14 March 2008
Maputo — The Mozambican government and the European Commission on Thursday signed three financial conventions amounting to a total value of 9.43 million euros (about 14.5 million US dollars).
The largest sum, 4.4 million euros, is for a project to support trade and the business environment. The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) is also contributing to this project with 900,000 euros.
This includes support for the National Norms and Quality Institute (INNOQ), seeking to improve the quality of its work in areas such as measurements and certification. The Export Promotion Institute (IPEX) will also benefit from these funds, in order to improve the quality of the advice and information services it provides both to exporters and to investors.
Under this project some funding is also available for the customs service, in order to reduce the time and costs of importing and exporting.
A second project, supported by the European Commission with 2.9 million euros and the Italian government with 2.4 million, is aimed at rehabilitating the water supply system to five small towns in the southern province of Inhambane - namely Inharrime, Jangamo, Homoine, Panda and Morrumbene. Some 38,000 people are expected to benefit from these improvements.
The third project is for capacity building in energy planning and management. This will cost 1.42 million euros, with 350,000 euros coming from the World Bank and the rest from the European Commission.
The project is intended to provide technical support for the Ministry of Energy in the better use of vegetable fuel (e.g. wood and charcoal), and fossil fuels in four main cities (Maputo, Beira, Nampula and Quelimane), and in improving access to sources of energy in the countryside. The project hopes to strengthen the ministry's planning and management capacity at central and provincial level.
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