London — A Commonwealth-Mozambique Investment Conference will be held in Mozambique's capital Maputo from 25 to 27 February 2002 to boost business and investment opportunities in the country.
Mozambique's President Joaquim Alberto Chissano, who will open the conference, has a message for prospective investors: "Mozambique is a multiparty democratic society and its economy is based on the free market as is enshrined in its constitution - - - Our incentives are highly competitive and foreign investors will find a warm welcome. I urge you to seriously consider Mozambique as one of the best locations for your business venture."
The conference is being jointly organised by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), the Government of Mozambique, the Mozambique Investment Promotion Centre and the Mozambique Confederation of Business Associations.
The objective of the organisers is to provide a platform for the Government of Mozambique to review and discuss its relatively new investment and promotion policies on trade liberalisation. The country has also pursued a comprehensive privatisation programme.
Mozambique's market-oriented reforms and improved economic management have produced dramatic results, including one of the lowest inflation rates in the region and the fastest growing economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, says the CBC. The investment conference is expected to build on this improved economic climate.
It will bring together ministers and senior representatives from companies in Mozambique with foreign investors, and is expected to promote investors' interest in key sectors such as financial services, mining, infrastructure development, telecommunications, manufacturing, agro-industries and tourism.
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It also presents opportunities for existing investors to meet with possible joint venture partners.
"Of the 200 to 300 investors expected to attend the conference, 50 per cent are from South Africa, 25 per cent from the UK and remaining from other African and European countries," said Dr Samuel Bassey Okposin of the CBC.
The conference is part of CBC's ongoing programmes to encourage the growth of trade and investment, partnership and development in the Commonwealth. It has already held investment conferences in Nigeria, the United Republic of Tanzania and several other Commonwealth countries.
Based in London, the CBC was established by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1997 to act as a bridge for co-operation between business and government to promote policies that enhance trade and investment within the Commonwealth.
