Maputo, 24 Jun (AIM) – Mozambique’s Confederation of Business Associations (CTA) believes that the country will continue to lose opportunities for growth and wealth creation if it doesn’t abandon the current model of exporting raw materials.
According to CTA chairperson, Álvaro Massingue, speaking on Tuesday at the Nampula Economic Fair (FENA), in northern Mozambique, the country must accelerate its industrialization process and abandon the current model of exporting raw materials.
“We need to stop exporting raw materials to build an economy based on added value. We need to create an integrated industrialization chain that starts with production, moves through processing, packaging, labeling, certification, storage, preservation, and refrigeration, and culminates in the export of finished products to international markets”, he said.
Massingue believes that the country needs concrete instruments for economic vitalization, capable of bringing producers, investors, and consumers closer together.
“The current challenge no longer lies solely in production, but rather in the imperative need to process resources locally and export products with higher added value.
Massingue also said that the private sector currently operates in a particularly challenging economic context, marked by restrictions on access to bank financing, high production costs, especially fuel, logistical limitations, and growing competition in international markets.
“Mozambique must capitalize on its privileged location to establish itself as a regional hub for trade and industry. The expansion of infrastructures, industrial parks, storage platforms, and multimodal transport systems could transform the Nacala Corridor into one of the main drivers of national economic growth”, he said.
“The Nacala Corridor should not be seen merely as transport infrastructure. It must be viewed as an integrated platform for economic and industrial development, a true gateway in and out of Southern Africa, linking the regions, inland markets to the Indian Ocean and Asian markets”, he added.
Massingue assured that CTA will continue to work in close coordination with the Mozambican Government and development partners to promote a business environment more favorable to private investment, industrialization, competitiveness, and job creation.
(AIM)
ZT/Am/
