Maputo, Mozambique — The newly-elected leadership of the Mozambican Industrial Association (AIMO) has pledged to work for the recovery of the industrial sector of the economy, which it warned was on the verge of disappearing altogether.

With the exception of a few large modern units, most obviously the MOZAL aluminium smelter on the outskirts of Maputo, most of the country's industrial park is obsolete.

There is hardly any money for the industrialists to plough back into the sector, and in recent years productivity has plummeted.

Taking office for a further term as chairman of AIMO on Friday, Carlos Simbine painted a grim picture of the current state of Mozambican industry.

He said that in 2000, 73 percent of the country's industrial companies produced at below 25 percent of their installed capacity.

Some 55 percent had most of their equipment obsolete, 82 percent had serious financial constraints, and 63 percent had nothing on their order books for more than three months in the future.

However, the new AIMO executive has pledged to seek solutions to change the situation.

"Taking this scenario into consideration, we will strive to advocate solutions to overturn the passivity of the relevant authorities, seeking to carry out a dialogue that will lead to the restoration of the national industrial park," said Simbine.

He added: "Our effort is to make Mozambique once again an industrial country. This is our concern since industry creates jobs," declared Simbine.

He called for "dialogue with the government, in its capacity as regulator of the economy," in order to find out why industry has been facing such severe problems.