Now is the time to invest in Mozambique – Nyusi tells Chinese business people

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Now is the time to invest in Mozambique – Nyusi tells Chinese business people

9:28 CAT | 23 May 2016

“Now is the time for you to invest in my country”, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi told a group of Chinese business people from the southern province of Jiangsu on Tuesday.

Nyusi was opening a Mozambique-Jiangsu Business Forum in the provincial capital, Nanjing, on the first full day of his state visit to China.

Attending the event are 60 Mozambican business people from such sectors as the building industry, tourism, agriculture, mining, energy and agro-processing. The delegation has been organised by the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA).

On the Chinese side are 48 business people from 20 Jiangsu companies, covering a wide variety of areas, particularly construction, agriculture and science and technology.

Nyusi told the meeting that China is a “strategic partner” for Mozambique, because of its investment and trade. He said that the Mozambican authorities have, over the past five years, approved 92 Chinese foreign direct investment projects, which would involve investment of 823 million US dollars, and could create 14,000 jobs.

The President stressed that Mozambique “has everything necessary to become a regional economic power”, including its “hard working people” and a welcoming attitude towards foreign investment.

There was huge potential in such areas as agriculture, livestock, fisheries and tourism, Nyusi told his audience. Despite the recent discoveries, the country’s enormous coal and gas reserves had yet to be exploited, and the Mozambican subsoil contained a wealth of other minerals, including graphite, precious stones, gold and limestone.

His government’s aims, Nyusi continued, included job creation, increasing exports, and substituting imports. Investment in Mozambique, he added, would help “internationalise Chinese companies”.

Zhang Lei, the Vice-Governor of Jiangsu province, said that over the last two years the trade between Jiangsu and Africa amounted to three billion US dollars. Ten companies from the province were already active in Mozambique, mainly in construction.

“We are willing to consider Mozambique as a key partner”, said Zhang. “We are prepared to respond to Mozambique’s socio-economic plans”.

He believed there could be “great complementarity” between Mozambique and Jiangsu, and promised that Mozambique would benefit from the transfer of technology from Jiangsu investors.

Source: AIM