Mozambique: Cahora Bassa water levels now “critical”
“Situation in northern Mozambique should not be seen as a way to delay investment”
2:51 CAT | 22 Jun 2018
Representatives of the Mozambican government have been in Germany selling the potential of the Mozambican mining sector. For them, the attacks in the north of the country do not justify any possible withdrawal of foreign investment.
“The mining industry in Mozambique” was the subject of a debate in the German city of Chemnitz on Wednesday (20.06). “The German government, through the Ministry of Economy, has a programme aimed at reaching markets, within the scope of which a day about Mozambique’s mineral resources was arranged”, Friedrich Kaufmann, representative of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Mozambique (AHK ) and one of the organisers of the event, explains.
“We incorporated the event at the ‘Business Triff Afrika’ Meeting organised by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Chemnitz. So it is a cooperation between this Chamber and AHK, which is our Chamber of Foreign Trade.”
Investment and sustainability
Mozambique government representatives in Germany explained that the country is organised to receive foreign investment, especially German. The fact that the country already has relevant legislation in the mining and hydrocarbon sector, for example, was presented as an attractive factor.
But the Mozambican government wants sustainable investments most of all. Obete Matine is the inspector-general at the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME) and says that “mining activity, yes, but in a safe way and respecting Mozambican standards”.
“And we are to look to the fulfilment of this and the State guarantees the private property and the people who are there must realise that there is a contribution that must be made to the State and must do so within the Mozambican legal framework and of environmental , public, workers and social and cultural issues protection.”
German support
As to security in the sector, the German government has been supporting its Mozambican counterpart. GIZ, the German technical cooperation body, has developed two projects with the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy.
There are also public-private partnerships involving Trager and BLP, two German private companies which provide technical assistance to minimise risks in mining activity.
Insecurity and the slowing of investment
Since last October, however, Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, where one of the largest gas reserves in the world is located, has recently experienced armed attacks.
Will this deter foreign investment? Esperança Bias, former Minister of Mineral Resources and MP, prefers to opt for an optimistic position. “I think investors have to have a long-term vision, and the situation in northern Mozambique should not be seen as deterring investment.”
Bias encourages investors by saying that “companies believe that investing is a long-term thing; that one does not invest today to have the benefit today. One has to invest today so that the benefit will happen at all”.
Source: Deutsche Welle
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