The national private sector defended on Monday (8), in Maputo city, the need for foreign companies to strictly observe the implementation of local content in the process of implementation and investment in large projects related to energy, carried out in the country.
According to the president of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), Agostinho Vuma, one should focus on maximising the participation of national business in large projects and on adding value, a necessary condition for industrialisation and economic diversification.
Intervening during the Mozambique-Italy Business Forum, Agostinho Vuma said that the energy sector development is directly linked to the local content, and that the investors should open space so that there are links between all the businessmen in order to assure the transference of technologies and to guarantee the access of information about the business opportunities.
“We are not proposing a xenophobic instrument, that is, we do not want an instrument that inhibits investment. We only argue that it is necessary to ensure benefits for the communities where the projects are located, the employment of national labour and the application of local resources,” he said.
He explained, “international experience shows that one way to link large natural resource projects to the rest of the economy is to adopt local content actions to ensure the participation of nationals in these projects, which is one way to bring greater inclusion of the whole of society in sharing benefits.
Giving a brief experience, the president of the Mozambique-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CCMI), Simone Santi, revealed that his country managed to develop and be in the list of one of the largest economies in the world, thanks to the work done together, and to the bet on local content and promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).
“Italy is a country that has managed, with very few natural resources, to develop one of the largest energy value chains in the world. Therefore, there should also be an opening for reflection, investment in infrastructures for the transformation of raw materials, so that Mozambique can also achieve development,” he concluded.
The one-day event (8 May) was attended by over 50 leading Italian companies in the energy sector operating in Mozambique, South Africa and others from the Italian chambers in Asia.
The Forum’s main theme was the “gas sector, the circular and green economy (biomass, solar energy, hydrogen and waste management)”.
