29 October 2008
Maputo — The partnership between the government and the private sector over more than a decade "has contributed substantially to improving the business environment in Mozambique", claimed President Armando Guebuza on Wednesday.
He was speaking at the opening session of the 11th edition of the annual private sector conference, organised by he Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA).
"Thanks to the dialogue and spirit of partnership that we embrace", said Guebuza, "this forum has been able to meet the adversities identified at each stage of Mozambique's development".
He urged Mozambican business people to be more imaginative and creative so as to exploit to the full the opportunities available in such areas as tourism, which is attracting increasing volumes of investment, and has become a major contributor to the balance of payments.
Guebuza stressed the potential of tourism to encourage other areas of economic activity, and urged Mozambican companies to help ensure that Mozambique will enjoy spin-offs from the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa, when there is likely to be a huge inflow of tourists into the region.
"We have to work with greater speed, so that we can take advantage of the opportunities that are appearing on the horizon", he said. The challenge was launched, and businesses "can count on the support of our government" in implementing their tourism projects.
"We should continue to promote the comparative and competitive advantages that our country possesses in tourism", Guebuza added. "These comparative advantages also have the potential to benefit other sectors of activity such as the food industry, construction, and transport and communications"
Guebuza also stressed the country's mineral wealth, noting that Mozambique is now a substantial exporter of natural gas and titanium ores. In the near future, large scale coal production is expected to begin in the western province of Tete.
Given that a massive expansion in the mining industry was almost certain, the government "has decided to strengthen transparency in exploiting this natural wealth and in the finances the flow from it".
He stressed that Mozambique is committed to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) - which is a coalition of governments, companies, civil society groups, investors and international organizations, set up to ensure that companies operating in oil, gas and mining publicly declare how much they pay to governments, and governments publicly declare how much they receive.
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