Mozambique’s Confederation of Economic Associations: Twenty years on

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Mozambique’s Confederation of Economic Associations: Twenty years on

2:28 CAT | 04 Mar 2016

“Boss of bosses” since 2011 and currently serving his last term as president of the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), Rogerio Manuel says that dialogue with the government has improved, but the business environment is still afflicted with mistrust and the attacks attributed to Renamo.

His main priority now is to show that Mozambican companies are competent to take part in the country’s mega-projects and should be allowed to do so.

O País: The CTA has existed since 1996, with its mission to contribute to a business environment conducive to the development of the private sector. Twenty years on, do you feel that this mission has been accomplished?

Rogério Manuel: After the Economic Recovery Programme (PRE) established in 1996 when the Working Committee of Associations was formed and in 1999, the CTA, there was a very serious job during this period, we were starting the PRE. Many companies emerged and some associations began to form – it was in this context that the CTA was born. There was a need for a forum, because everyone wanted to speak to the government about the same thing, since the problems were the same in all sectors; This justified, in part, the appearance of the CTA. From there on, a working formula had to be found, which led to the design of public-private dialogue. So I think the 20 years served well for learning, and for drawing up the objectives the private sector wanted to see.

O País: One of the objectives was to create networking to enable influencing economic and sectoral policies that would ensure competitiveness in the market. What is your assessment on this matter?

R.M.: I make a positive assessment since, because of the difficulties, we were leaving one system for another. The confidence of the government in the private sector was very low and it was difficult to make it understand the changes in economic policies and reforms that were needed at the time. So there was very hard work with colleagues in the CTA, of which I was vice president. The government eventually understood the need for reform. And some rerforms were made, including laws, the implementation of which was lacking. Some laws are still not felt yet, but the reforms are there..

Source: O País