Mozambican government committed to cooperation with USA

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Mozambican government committed to cooperation with USA

3:53 CAT | 17 Sep 2016

Twitter / President Filipe Nyusi meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on September 14 2016

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Friday reiterated the commitment of his government to continued cooperation with the United States, strengthening the existing relations of mutual trust.

He was speaking at an Africa Braintrust session in the Annual Legislative Conference organized by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which every year brings together members of congress, government figures, diplomats, academics and opinion makers.

Nyusi said that, even during the cold war, and during the years marked by the apartheid regime’s destabilization of southern Africa, Mozambique and the United States always interacted on the basis of respect for sovereignty and the equality of rights among states.

“Today there is no reason for concern”, he said. “We can state with satisfaction and conviction that the USA and Mozambique have succeeded in building a relationship of deep friendship, a partnership sustained on common values and interests, and a platform of constructive dialogue with a high level of maturity and trust”.

“We are convinced that together we are taking the right path in deepening a mutually advantageous partnership”, he added.

Nyusi challenged Mozambican and US business people to be more ambitious and to create more investment partnerships. He regarded the increased number of American companies operating in Mozambique as encouraging, and cited the names of some of them, such as Coca-Cola, General Electric and Anadarko.

Anadarko is the operator of Rovuma Basin Offshore Area 1, off the coast of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, where enormous reserves of natural gas have been found. On Saturday, Nyusi is scheduled to visit the Anadarko headquarters in Houston.

Nyusi said that US investment in Mozambique was now in excess of 16 billion dollars, and has created more than 4,000 jobs.

In a meeting later on Friday with Mozambicans resident in the United States, Nyusi lamented “there is no culture of recognizing election results”, unlike what happens in many other countries where the winners and losers, after the results have been announced, work together to develop their nations.

He said that, after he was sworn into office, in January 2015, he attempted to hold a direct dialogue with the main opposition party, the rebel movement Renamo “but unfortunately it did not bear fruit”.

At Renamo’s request, the government had now accepted international mediation, but the talks have continued without producing the desired effect.

As for the spiraling cost of living, Nyusi blamed the rising exchange rate against the US dollar which “has destabilized various economies, particularly the weakest, such as the Mozambican”. But the country was also faced with falling prices of key exports, and the withdrawal of support from key partners (such as the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and all 14 donors and funding agencies who used to provide direct support to the state budget).

This withdrawal of support is the direct result of the undisclosed, government-guaranteed loans incurred in 2013-2014 when the government was headed by Nyusi’s predecessor, Armando Guebuza. When the hidden loans, amounting to well over a billion dollars, became public knowledge in April, the IMF, the World Bank and western donors suspended their financial aid to Mozambique.

Reaching an agreement with the IMF is one of the reasons for Nyusi’s visit to the US. On Thursday he met with IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and, according to an IMF press statement, Nyusi agreed that his government would work with the IMF on terms of reference for an independent international audit of the controversial loans.

Nyusi told his audience that the government is attempting to reduce imports and increase exports. Mozambicans, he insisted, “must produce more”.

He urged the Mozambican community in the US “to roll up your sleeves and help in the development of Mozambique. If each of us does something in this direction, we can change the country”.

Source: AIM