As part of the Mozambican President’s visit to Mozambique, a business roundtable was held this Friday, 12 July, between the two countries, focusing on the agriculture and agro-processing, energy, manufacturing, mineral resources, tourism, transport and logistics sectors.
On the occasion, the president of the Confederation of Mozambican Associations (CTA) said that “the Mozambican-Botswana trade relationship has seen remarkable growth in the last two years, reaching a trade value of around 3.6 billion meticals (58 million dollars) in 2023, compared to around 505 million meticals (eight million dollars) in 2021”.
He explained that this trend is explained by the growth in exports of certain products and services, such as electricity and aluminium cables and wires. “With this in mind, we believe that holding this Business Roundtable session could increase these figures as much as possible. The CTA, as the unifying body of the private sector, is available to build the bridge needed to realise this common goal,” said Agostinho Vuma.
“Given the potential synergies that can result and the existing market, we would like to invite Botswana’s business community to enter into partnerships aimed at production and development of the transport and logistics value chain, namely through the realisation of the project to build the Tchobanine port infrastructure in the Matutuine district, as this can further boost trade between the two countries,” he added.
For his part, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Jorge Jairoce, said that “one of the fundamental objectives of our economic diplomacy is to attract foreign direct investment and consolidate our trade relations with the rest of the world, with a view to maximising the use of and adding value to our soil and subsoil resources, with an emphasis on agribusiness, energy generation and infrastructure development, taking into account the country’s competitiveness in terms of strategic location, ease of access to markets in the region and the world, the history of successful exploitation and commercialisation of agricultural and mineral resources, as well as the country’s growing capacity and willingness to ensure the addition of value to locally produced raw materials through structuring programmes such as Mozambique’s National Industrialisation Programme (PRONAI)”.
He stressed that “as member states of the African Continental Free Trade Area, we have been actively preparing to maximise the gains of what is one of the largest free trade areas in the world, with a combined gross domestic product of trillions of dollars and a market of more than 1.3 billion consumers with mutual benefits for the entire continent”.
He continued: “Mozambique and Botswana are also members of SADC, with professional access to one of the most promising markets in Africa for a range of goods and services in high demand around the world, which represents excellent business opportunities for investors from both countries, with a vision of the future, bearing in mind that the region is very rich in natural resources.”