The French government organized on Monday, April 24, in Maputo, the Mozambique-France Business Forum with the support of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry France-Mozambique (CCIFM) and the Confederation of Mozambique Economic Associations (CTA).
The event aims at presenting the business environment and key sectors in Mozambique, as well as holding multi-sector business meetings (Business Matchmaking/Dating) between 50 companies from the French delegation and Mozambican companies and public entities.
Addressing the Forum participants, Mozambique’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno, revealed that “our trade balance in the last five years with France, despite being unfavorable for Mozambique, particularly in the years 2018 and 2019, registered a growth of 26.7% at the level of all exports, amounting to about 200 million dollars against 700 million dollars of imports,” and therefore argued that “the global deficit is a huge space of opportunity for research and balanced growth of the various segments.”
Silvino Moreno exhorted the businessmen to take “maximum advantage of this event to sign partnerships and, to those who come from France, bet on investing in Mozambique, because it has many potentialities”.
Also on the occasion, the French ambassador to Mozambique, Yann Pradeau, explained that after the covid-19 pandemic, which negatively affected economies around the world, “the circulation of people and goods has resumed, at levels comparable to those at the end of 2019, and this rediscovered dynamism was the signal everyone was waiting for to get together again and discuss matters of our interest,” he said, to then argue that “this is one of the elements that led the French team in Mozambique to organize this forum. We hope it will be useful.
On the Mozambican side, more than 70 businessmen will participate in the event during the two days of the Business Forum. The level of demand forced the organizers to exceed the limit of registrations initially foreseen – 40 was the limit for the Mozambican side. On the French side, 50 companies are participating.
With this reality, the president of CTA, Agostinho Vuma, understood that “the level of adhesion to the forum shows, on one hand, the level of importance that the business sector gives to the relations with France, and the same is observed on the French side towards Mozambique.
“We are currently in a situation where accounts indicate that in recent years, Mozambique’s exports to France amounted to a little over 30 million dollars per year, and imports around 73 million dollars,” revealed Agostinho Vuma. And he highlighted: “these numbers only translate what is the volume of business with mainland France, because if we talk about our direct relations with the islands of Reunion and Mayotte, the data show us that, despite the proximity, opportunities and potentialities, there is almost nothing considerable”.
The private sector representative also revealed that investors are concerned about the rules imposed on the entry and exit of capital, through the Exchange Law. “It is necessary that the new foreign exchange regulations make these flows more flexible in facilitating business with our partners,” argued Agostinho Vuma.
The SMEs are highlighted in the Mozambique-France Business Forum (the great majority of the French participants are SMEs) that are looking for a Mozambican partner to develop in the country, in terms of guidance and monitoring.
