Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Monday opened the 57th edition of the Maputo Trade Fair (FACIM) with the hope that the fair will stimulate competition between Mozambican and foreign companies, and open space for mutually advantageous partnerships.
He declared that there is countless potential in the country's 11 provinces, and called on the Mozambican business class to work with determination to draw benefits and take value from the measures to stimulate the economy which he introduced recently.
Nyusi challenged business to bet on "flexible markets" taking advantage of experience brought by Japan, China and the United States, in order to develop the Mozambican business environment.
"We must explore the programme that includes debates on the dissemination of trade and investment opportunities with preferential access to these markets", the president said.
According to Nyusi, the entrepreneurs should also map the value chains as part of the development corridors in special economic zones where initiatives such as the government's agricultural development programme, Sustenta, stand out.
The country's geographical location, he claimed, "places Mozambique as a more efficient gateway to the landlocked countries of the hinterland, and can also play an important role in relation to Asia and the Far East.
Nyusi stressed the measures that the government intends to introduce to improve the mobility of people, particularly in obtaining visas for investors including the specialists and technicians essential for production.
"Added to this is the integration in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) market and in the African continent by adhering to the agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area, which has a market of more than 1.3 billion consumers, and the improvements in the business environment by introducing new working platforms in the relationship between companies and the tax authorities", he explained.
FACIM is being held in Marracuene district, some 30 kilometres north of the capital. About 2,000 Mozambican and foreign exhibitors are displaying their goods and services, and the fair is expected to attract around 50,000 visitors.
