The Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) held a press conference this Monday (13) on the 19th edition of the Annual Private Sector Conference (CASP), which will take place on the 15th and 16th of this month in Maputo City. The event will be the stage for debate on projects valued at 1.7 billion dollars (107.4 billion meticals).
‘This conference represents the highest point of dialogue between the government and the private sector. This year, the event has as its backdrop the reflection on the Economic Acceleration Measures (EAP), explained CTA’s director general, Eduardo Sengo.
He added that CASP will bring together around 4,000 businesspeople from the country, as well as from other countries. ‘In face-to-face terms, we have delegations coming from France, South Africa, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria,’ he said, going on to emphasise that ‘all these businesspeople are looking for partnerships with Mozambican companies. They want to better understand the investment framework in the country, as well as explore the opportunities that have arisen with the recent reforms in the tourism sector’.
Eduardo Sengo revealed that most of the entrepreneurs are millionaires and multi-millionaires.
‘They are individuals who are dynamising investments in various countries, such as Nigeria and South Africa. This means that we will indeed have an interesting environment for doing business. CASP will be bringing around 1.7 billion dollars worth of projects to discuss with investors.’
Eduardo Sengo
‘We also have financial institutions that are available to help with financing, such as the African Development Bank, the Trade Development Bank, among other important ones. We’ll discuss how we can make investments viable in certain areas, such as tourism, agriculture and finance. We will also emphasise the role of the state in boosting investment.’
Eduardo Sengo
CASP has investors looking to develop tourism-related property projects in Macaneta, Ponta do Ouro and Bilene. ‘On these visits, we’ll fly over the areas to get to know them better. We’ll also visit the industrial parks to see what potential there is,’ he said.
For his part, José Libombo, director of the Private Sector Support Department (DASP) at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that the idea of the conference is to share and pass on the experience of national entrepreneurs with other countries.
‘We, as a government, have the sole objective of making our companies grow and improving the performance of our economy. That’s what we’re going to work towards and we urge entrepreneurs to sign up so that they can understand what’s going to happen.’
José Libombo
Libombo also said that during the conference, a practical guide to combating collusion in public procurement will be launched. ‘It’s a guide, as you may realise from the topic, that will help a lot with the problems we have in public procurement. It will be launched on the 16th,’ he said.
