Maputo — The Brazil-based business network LIDE announced in Maputo on Tuesday that it is launching a branch in Mozambique which will formally be presented to the public on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Aires Aly.

LIDE describes its mission as "to promote integration between companies, organisations and private entities, through programmes of debates, business forums, content activities and initiatives that support sustainability and social responsibility".

The organisation is essentially a think tank, dealing with issues of interest to business.

Speaking at a Maputo press conference on Tuesday, the Chairperson of LIDE-International, the former Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Luiz Forlan, said that LIDE now has over 1,000 associates, with branches in over ten countries.

He insisted that LIDE wants to encourage local business leaderships, and "there is no question of any foreigner coming here and telling Mozambicans what to do".

LIDE-Mozambique's executive director, Ana Paula Figueiredo, said a network such as LIDE was important to Mozambican companies "so that we can get to know each other better, to see what we have to offer each other, and to become sustainable".

She said that ten Mozambican companies are founder members of LIDE-Mozambique and its chairperson is former Prime Minister Mario Machungo, who is currently chairperson of the country's largest commercial bank, the Millennium-BIM (International Bank of Mozambique).

Machungo could not attend the press conference in person, but a LIDE statement cited his as saying "These groups formed by business leaders are necessary, in that they bring together specialists and opinion leaders in the most varied areas of Mozambican business".

"From the activity of LIDE-Mozambique, we hope to innovate and produce ideas that contribute to the sustainable development of the country", said Machungo. "It is intended that this organisation should create ideas and currents of thought about all the matters that are most pressing for Mozambique, in such varied areas as the economy, business, sustainability, education and culture".

"In particular it will help show the world the best of Mozambique, its companies and its business people", Machungo concluded.