28 June 2009
Hamburg — Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi on Friday invited businessmen in the German city of Hamburg to invest in Mozambique.
Baloi was speaking during a press conference held as part of "Mozambique Week in Germany", that has been under way since Monday.
Baloi stressed that Mozambique is open to any type of investment, since the top priority of the country is poverty reduction.
The meeting dealt essentially with investment in infrastructures, and the National Director of Infrastructures in the Mozambican Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ana Dimande, presented the opportunities for investment in this sector, focusing on ports and railways.
She stressed in particular the need to rehabilitate the final 77 kilometres of the northern railway, between Cuamba, in Niassa province, and the Malawian border. Upgrading this stretch will greatly facilitate Malawi's use of the port of Nacala.
Dimande also spoke of the need for an emergency expansion of the port of Quelimane, in the central province of Zambezia, to cope with increased demand for Zambezia timber and other natural resources.
Some Hamburg companies expressed their interest in investing in areas such as biofuels, timber and sugar.
Meanwhile the German government has restated its commitment to helping Mozambique reduce poverty levels.
Speaking on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of Mozambican independence, celebrated on Thursday, the Director for Africa in the German Foreign Ministry, Matias Mulmenstof told AIM "I can assure you that Germany's assistance for the fight against poverty will be maintained, particularly its commitment to economic and rural development, education and direct budget support".
"Let me express our respect or the way in which your country has managed to overcome adversities", he added. "Mozambique has faced great challenges as a post-conflict country, but has achieved good results in dealing with the consequences of war. Germany knows what it means to rebuild a country".
Germany is one of the Mozambique's "Programme Aid Partners" that donate much of their aid to the country in the form of direct budget support. Total German aid for this year is estimated at 21.4 million US dollars, and is expected to remain at much the same level in 2010.
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