Mozambique: President calls for better coordination of foreign aid to country

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: President calls for better coordination of foreign aid to country

2:31 CAT | 17 Feb 2020

File photo: RM

Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, on Friday called for greater coordination of development aid to the country, stressing that at times there is a concentration of aid in the same target groups or areas to the detriment of others.

Nyusi made his criticisms of the way international aid is targetted in Mozambique in comments to diplomats accredited in the country, at the usual meeting at the start of the year.

“Harmonisation helps a lot so that the same person isn’t supported three, four or five times, while there are those who need help more,” the president said.

Greater consultation between the government and international partners will avoid overlapping and dispersal of development aid, he said.

The president also called on the diplomatic corps to focus more on Mozambique state institutions in channelling aid, because resorting to intermediate entities results in its being wasted, he argued.

“So that the support of the peoples they represent reach Mozambique through official channels, they should not use intermediate routes, because there are formal channels,” he stressed.

On the other hand, Nyusi urged embassies present in Mozambique to coordinate better with their governments on information about the country, noting that there are discrepancies.

“When we visit the countries, governments say one thing, but those that represent them here on the ground, in Mozambique, say another,” he said.

Despite these comments, Nyusi welcomed the role of the international community in the country’s development, saying that the progress that has been made in the economic and social field is in part thanks to international aid.

Nyusi said that his government would focus on strengthening bilateral and multilateral relations to promote social and economic development.

The development of economic infrastructure, agriculture, industrialisation and tourism, as well as the promotion of democracy, good governance and human rights, are to be the pillars of the executive in the coming five years, Nyusi said.

Source: Lusa