Moz woos SA investors

Mozambique is courting SA
investors to help it achieve its
five-year transport infrastructure
development
plan which is
making “serious
headway”,
according to
the minister of
transport and
communications,
Carlos Mesquita.
Speaking at
a Mozambique
Transport
Infrastructure
Development
seminar last
month – hosted by the South
African Mozambique Chamber of
Commerce (Samozacc) – Mesquita
pointed out that his government
was planning to invest US$11.6
billion in the building of roads,
bridges, railway lines and airports
over the next five years.
South Africa is one of
Mozambique’s three major investors
and one of its top trading partners –
and he believes it could benefit from
a robust transport infrastructure
that could further facilitate trade
between the two countries.
Mesquita
has however so
far refused to
sign a proposed
bilateral trade
Memorandum of
Understanding
(MoU)
between the
two countries,
labelling it “onesided”.
He said he
was concerned
that the
MoU favoured trade out of SA
to Mozambique and was not
sufficiently inclusive. He said
that Mozambique had taken the
initiative to draft an amended
agreement that would be more
reciprocal.
“There is a strong SA business
presence in Mozambique but there
is room for improvement,” he said.
INSERT & CAPTION
There is a strong SA
business presence in
Mozambique but there is
room for improvement.
– Carlos Mesquita