Mozambique: Diplomats must attract investment, says Nyusi

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Mozambique: Diplomats must attract investment, says Nyusi

7:01 CAT | 06 May 2022

Photo: President Filipe Nyusi on Facebook

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday urged the country’s diplomats to attract more investors, particularly in the areas of petroleum and natural gas.

Speaking at the opening of a meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nyusi called for “diplomatic creativity” to attract investment. “Our diplomacy must position itself so that we can take greater advantage of our membership of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum”, he said.

Mozambique already exports gas to South Africa from the Pande and Temane fields in the southern province of Inhambane. But there are much larger gas reserves in the Rovuma Basin off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The first Rovuma Basin gas will be exported later this year from a floating platform operated by the Italian energy company, ENI.

Diplomats, he added, must be well-informed about the political, security and economic situation in the country, including the effects of climate change and of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Turning to the fight against jihadist terrorism in Cabo Delgado, Nyusi said the current priority is to stabilize the security situation, and restore the authority of the state, thus allowing people displaced by the conflict to return to their homes.

A second priority, he added, is reform, upgrade and modernize the defence and security force, so that they can carry out their mission to the full, while a third is to restore normal social and economic development to the province creating more jobs and sources of income for formerly displaced people.

“So that this strategy can be more effective, a mechanism is being finalized to be known as the Mozambique Support Fast Fund, to mobilise more resources from our partners”, he declared.

Nyusi stressed that diplomats must have an economic, as well as a political agenda. That was why Mozambican diplomatic missions are now being set up in Rwanda and in Qatar.

Qatar, he said, “is a link between the East and the West”. The fact that Qatar is easily accessible from some of the world’s major cities “makes it a preferred destination for investors and business people”.

As for Rwanda, this central African country. Nyusi continued, is implementing reforms that are resulting in one of the highest rates of economic growth in the world. It was part of the role of the country’s diplomats to bring these experiences back to Mozambique.

The meeting of the Coordinating Council is taking place under the motto “For a Diplomacy of Peace, Investment and Development: New Challenges and New Approaches”.

Source: AIM