FACIM: Maputo International Trade Fair to be managed by private sector, contacts underway

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FACIM: Maputo International Trade Fair to be managed by private sector, contacts underway

12:38 CAT | 04 Sep 2017

Domingo / Facim doors

The decision has been taken and the premises of the Maputo International Fair (FACIM) in Marracuene are to be handed over to private management, a measure recently adopted by the government with the aim of making events that take place there a true mirror of the strength of the private sector, Domingo reports

According to Lourenço Sambo, director general of the Agency for the Promotion of Investments and Exports (APIEX), the model settled upon by the Council of Ministers implies the identification of a strategic partner with the necessary financial muscle to invest in modern infrastructure and host different events in the same space.
“We are preparing the terms of reference to follow in the production of the specifications and subsequent launch of the public tender. We are following every step with the necessary caution because the understanding is that, this time, nothing shall fail, as it has in the past,” he said.

Sambo said that APIEX, the entity that currently manages FACIM, had already been contacted by various entities, both domestic and foreign, interested in running the fair.

But Sambo says that such “relationships” are no more than that, since the government’s determination is that space be given over to those who demonstrate real capacity to make it sustainable and produce results that impact the economy “and not only fill their purses”.

Sambo explained that within the framework of approaches made, a meeting is planned this week with a South African group with extensive experience in the construction and management of convention centres.

According to the Council of Ministers, FACIM’s sustainability is to be guaranteed by effectively exploiting the precinct that is now used for exhibitions and the adjacent areas by building convention centres, hotels, restaurants and the like.

“Some plans for construction projects were developed during SOGEX (the Society for the Management of Fairs and Congresses) managed FACIM in central Maputo, and others were elaborated more recently by IPEX (the Institute for the Promotion of Exports). We are revisiting all this,” Sambo said.

Shortly before FACIM moved to Marracuene, IPEX said that the tents that still host the fairs in Ricatlha would be transitional facilities, but although a model of a multipurpose pavilion was presented to the press, plans for permanent buildings never got off the drawing board.

Sambo also said there was an understanding between APIEX and the National Institute of Statistics (INE) to use part of the vast area belonging to FACIM for the construction of a strategic data bunker.

“In fact, there are already funds for INE to build its data preservation centre and, in the same space, offices will be set up to accommodate the different administrative and support services that are used to organise the fair and that are spread throughout the current premises.” he announced.

First APIEX fair

Even as it prepared to hand FACIM over to private management, APIEX was taking stock of the 53rd edition inaugurated on Monday by President Filipe Nyusi and visited by Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on Saturday morning.

The event that ended yesterday was attended by 26 countries, 540 foreign companies and 1,490 national exhibitors, who received from the president pledges of continual improvement in the country’s business environment.

According to President Nyusi, “our commitment also includes the promotion of industrialisation, aimed at modernising our economy, increasing exports, as well as the value chain of domestic primary products, ensuring the integration of local content”.

By Jorge Rungo

Source: Jornal Domingo