Prime Minister Benvinda Levy has challenged the incoming chairman of the board of Empresa Nacional de Aquisição de Produtos Petrolíferos (ENAPP), Vítor Luís Timóteo, to ensure the regular supply of fuel across the country and accelerate the creation of strategic reserves to reduce the impact of international price fluctuations.
The challenge was issued on Thursday, 24 September, in Maputo, during an inauguration ceremony for four senior officials appointed by the Council of Ministers.
According to Levy, supply security and the expansion of the fuel distribution network to rural areas must be priorities for ENAPP. She also called on the state petroleum procurement company to leverage Mozambique's geostrategic position to import petroleum products at competitive prices and maximise transit revenues from landlocked members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"Ensuring the security of supply and distribution of petroleum products throughout the country is a government priority. Special attention must be given to expanding the fuel distribution network to rural areas," she said.
For his part, Vítor Luís Timóteo identified the creation of strategic reserves as the key mechanism for mitigating the effects of fuel price volatility and its impact on the cost of living.
"We face the challenge of building strategic reserves to address price fluctuations, because prices have been rising due to wars. If we have reserves, we can minimise the suffering of our people, because petroleum products are of great importance — they are truly strategic," he said.
At the same ceremony, Levy challenged the new executive president of the Integrated Development Agency of the South (ADISUL), Adérito Salvador Mavie, to transform the southern region's potential into production, employment, and income.
The Prime Minister highlighted the region's human resources, fertile land, natural and cultural heritage, logistics infrastructure, and access to regional corridors as assets that should be mobilised to drive economic development.
According to Levy, ADISUL should function as an integrated development platform, coordinating sectors including agribusiness, agro-industry, tourism, fisheries, industry, energy, transport, logistics, trade, and services, while connecting producers and businesses to financing instruments.
ADISUL Called to Strengthen Economic Resilience Against El Niño
Levy said this mission was made all the more urgent by the El Niño climate phenomenon, which is expected to affect the country with greater intensity during the current rainy and cyclone season.
"The mission of ADISUL becomes even more urgent in the face of El Niño, which is forecast to affect our country with greater intensity in the current rainy and cyclone season. It is therefore essential to strengthen water security, improve irrigation efficiency, diversify crops and income sources, protect critical infrastructure, and promote resilient productive systems," she said.
In addition to Vítor Luís Timóteo and Adérito Salvador Mavie, Ana da Graça Simione was sworn in as director-general of the School of Governance, while Nelson Laura Mabucanhane was inaugurated as deputy director-general for Training and Professional Development at the same institution.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=547437
