Maputo — The Mozambican government "is committed to serving the business community, by creating an environment favourable to investment, free of corruption and bribery", declared Agriculture Minister Tomas Mandlate in Maputo on Wednesday.

He was speaking at the opening session of a conference on business and investment organised by the government's Investment Promotion Centre (CPI), and by Standard Bank, the oldest private bank operating in Mozambique. Dozens of South African businessmen are attending the conference.

"We are working tirelessly to serve investors, and we are ready to work with them as our partners", said Mandlate, who also stressed the fiscal and customs benefits that investors, foreign and national, can enjoy.

His own sector, agriculture, was key to the country's future, since "any improvements in agriculture will have a knock- on effect on people's well-being and on food security".

"The time has come", declared Mandlate, "for a qualitative leap in cooperation between Mozambique and South Africa, particularly in the area of private investment".

The director of the CPI, Mohammed Rafique, declared that the objective of such conferences is "to attract investment for the country's development and for poverty reduction. But it's not really poverty reduction - it's to make the country as rich as possible, to turn poor people into rich people, living lives of dignity".

Mozambique, he added, was doing what it could to increase competitiveness, and was building up small and medium enterprises "so that one day they can become big companies".

The South African High Commissioner to Mozambique, Thandi Lujabe-Rankoe, noted that South African investors are already present in most sectors of the Mozambican economy, "and I can assure you that they would not have invested in Mozambique if they thought that the country was not politically stable, and if they did not realise the enormous potential that Mozambique offers".

She urged South African companies to invest in training their Mozambican work force, arguing that "the single greatest impediment to South Africa and Mozambique's shared growth and development is our shortage of skills at all levels - engineers, scientists, financial personnel, information technology specialists and other managers that are critically needed, as our economies move into higher gear".

"A country's economic growth is hinged on the development of skills and the country's ability to source skills from abroad", she said. "These skills have to be specifically targeted in order to achieve the economic growth that we require, and therefore need to be tied to specific investment plans".

The African Renaissance, added Lujabe-Rankoe, "cannot be realised without the full and active participation of the South African business community in the continent. South African business must play an important role in helping with the regeneration, development and growth in Africa".

She warned against any belief that South Africa can prosper while the rest of Africa fails. "It will be difficult for the South African economy, or the economy of any other country in the region for that matter, to develop and grow in the midst of other economies that are stagnant or declining", she said. "It is therefore of utmost importance that investment takes place in all countries in the southern Africa region to ensure a balanced regional development".

On the practical side, Luis Magaco, of the Mozambican consultancy firm Austral, gave would-be investors a list of "dos" and "don'ts".

"Experience", he said, "shows that, if you do it properly, have the right information and hire the appropriate services, then your investment can be rewarded".

He admitted that red tape still exists. The World Bank "Doing Business" report of 2004 said that setting a business up in Mozambique takes 15 separate steps lasting a total of 153 days.

But that is if the businessman does it all himself. Magaco pointed out that going through the CPI will knock 70 days off this total. The simplifications being introduced by the government should reduce the time to 50 days.

Furthermore, only the first four steps (taking 19 days) are necessary before a business can set up an office and start hiring staff.

But despite these improvements, investors needed to be prepared for "a lot of paperwork, much of it repetitive, and all of it in Portuguese".

He insisted that investors should not fall for conmen who claim they are in contact with "the king" (i.e. the head of state, or a prominent minister). "In most cases, they don't know any such person !", he exclaimed.

Instead investors should seek proper advice from the CPI, from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, or from whichever Ministry covers their area.

He also suggested that foreign investors should seek out Mozambican partners. "It's not compulsory, but it's highly recommended", he said.