UK diplomat claims massive increase in trade with Mozambique – AIM report

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UK diplomat claims massive increase in trade with Mozambique – AIM report

12:51 CAT | 02 Apr 2025

Photo: AIM

The British High Commissioner to Mozambique, Helen Lewis, claimed on Tuesday that trade between Mozambique and the United Kingdom had risen by 115 per cent between 2022 and 2023.

At first sight, the figure seems unlikely, since it would mean that trade between the two countries had more than doubled in the space of slightly more than a year.

The High Commission’s detailed figures are that total trade in goods and services (exports plus imports) between the UK and Mozambique was 533 million pounds sterling in the four quarters to the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 115.8 per cent or 286 million pounds in current prices from the four quarters to the end of 2022.

Speaking to reporters after an audience granted by Mozambican President Daniel Chapo, she also claimed that British investment in Mozambique had increased by 30 per cent in recent years.

But Lewis added that the post-election tension, which was characterized by mass demonstrations that later degenerated into rioting, looting and destruction of public and private property, will have a major impact on foreign investment.

“We have a very strong partnership, but clearly we’ve had the shock of the post-election violence, and with President Chapo we talked a lot about how we can regain the confidence of British investors and British companies”, she said.

As a way of putting an end to the demonstrations and stabilizing the country, Mozambican President Daniel Chapo and nine political parties signed on 5 March an agreement for implementing “inclusive national political dialogue.”

Initially, the agreement seemed like a dead letter, since it excluded the most popular opposition politician, former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.

However, it looks as if the omission has now been corrected as Chapo and Mondlane met recently and promised to bring an end to violence between their supporters.

“The UK is ready to support Mozambique in its inclusive national political dialogue. We talked about the need to strengthen inclusive dialogue and economic reforms”, Lewis said.

Mozambique approved 102 investment projects from the UK, budgeted at 713 million dollars, in the decade 2013-2023. Mozambique is one of the priority countries for the British Investment Partnerships Initiative, which supports the development of resilient infrastructures and the green transition.

British companies claim they have already invested more than a billion pounds in sectors that will drive the transition to clean energy.

Source: AIM