Government approves 102 investment projects from UK

Maputo, 31 May (AIM) – The Mozambican government approved, during the decade 2013-2023, 102 investment projects from the United Kingdom, budgeted at 713 million US dollars.

The figures were announced, on Thursday, in Maputo, by the Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno, at the Mozambique-UK Business Forum, which is being held under the slogan “Economic Development through Investment, Trade and Industrialization.”

According to the minister, industry was the sector that absorbed the most investment.

“In terms of investment by sector of activity, 29.73 percent of UK investment was directed to the industrial sector, in second place was the services sector with 27.60 percent and in third place was transport and communications with 21.91 percent”, he said.

The UK, he said, is currently seventh country on the list of the 10 biggest investors in Mozambique.

“Our balance of trade with the UK, over the last five years, has seen notable growth in terms of total exports. It still presents an elasticity of opportunity and enormous room for diversification and growth”, Moreno said.

The minister said that the competitive value of “Mozambique as an attractive destination for investments and partnerships” may offer countless opportunities and advantages.

He invited British businesses to invest in the country, emphasizing that Mozambique can serve as a gateway to access six southern African countries, a regional market with around 380 million consumers and the African Continental Free Trade Area, which has 1.4 billion consumers.

“We therefore urge and invite UK businesses to invest in the areas that the government has chosen as priorities, namely agriculture, energy, infrastructure, mineral resources, industry and tourism and hospitality”, he said.

Moreno also challenged UK business people to invest in setting up industrial parks, the fertilizer industry, pharmaceuticals and in processing and adding value to agriculture and food products, including inland fisheries and critical minerals through the National Programme for the Industrialization of Mozambique (PRONAI).

For his part, the UK Minister for Exports, Lord Offord, guaranteed his willingness to always work with Mozambique.

“We are committed to working with the Mozambican government to ensure that our trade and investment partnership continues to grow and to help resolve some of the challenges that businesses face here”, he said.

Offord explained that in 2023 alone, trade between the two countries “reached 533 million pounds (678 million dollars), an increase of 116 per cent on the previous year.”

“I believe this is just the beginning”, he said. “It could grow much further as we continue to investigate the opportunities we can offer each other and deepen our trade and investment partnership. Due to global commitments to renewable energy, the UK has its eyes set on more resilient infrastructure to climate change, expanding renewable energy generation and taking advantage of new clean and green technologies.”

(AIM)

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