Maputo, Mozambique — Mozambican Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi Tuesday said that his government was hoping for an economic growth of about 10 percent this year.

This is after GDP grew by less than three percent in 2000, thanks largely to the catastrophic floods in the early months of that year.

Speaking during a May Day rally, which was also attended by President, Joaquim Chissano, Mocumbi stressed on the need to attract new investment into the country that could create more jobs.

In 2000 around 180 new investment projects were approved that could create some 16,000 jobs.

"But this number is very small compared with the number who need jobs," said Mocumbi.

He stressed on ambitious projects such as the mining of titanium-rich mineral sands, the planned steel slabs factory in Maputo, the rebuilding of the sabotaged Beira-Malawi railway, and the construction of a new bridge over the Zambezi at Caia - all of which could create a significant number of jobs.

Mocumbi warned the workers of the spread of HIV/AIDS, which could "undo the government's entire plan of action."

The HIV virus that causes AIDS "has no cure. But there are ways to avoid it. It depends on each and every one of us. We must break the silence and speak about AIDS, and how we can avoid it," he told the rally.

If any of the trade unionists in the crowd hoped that the government would take the opportunity to announce an increase in the minimum wage, they were disappointed.

Mocumbi merely said he was confident that the next session of the tripartite forum between the unions, the employers and the government "will lay the basis so that the Cabinet can approve the new minimum wage."

He carefully avoided raising any expectations, or mentioning any figures.