05 April 2004 23:27
The Official Line - Mozambique
AFTER postings in the US and Moscow, and a spell as his country's deputy foreign minister, Hipolito Patricio was
posted to Pretoria two years ago as Mozambique's high commissioner. caught up with him, to discuss the growing
economic ties between SA and its booming neighbour, and the prospects for the future.
How are relations between our two countries progressing? SA is celebrating its ten years of freedom, and we are also
consolidating the political stability of ten years that has allowed us to make our investment environment more open and
more attractive. We are developing a very fruitful partnership with SA, with an improving flow of trade. And even though
the balance of trade is still negative for Mozambique, we see the volumes growing and the imbalance shrinking. SA has
also become our major investment partner — it is our major economic and trade partner. Our heads of state meet
regularly, to deal mainly with strategic projects — projects which stimulate the growth of Mozambique, but which also
enable us to implement the objectives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Nepad.
What about the history of relations between SA and Mozambique? Our relations with SA have a long history,
particularly in the liberation process, when we were close partners of the ANC. We have similarities in our history, and
culturally. Our labourers have contributed a lot to the mining industry in SA, where we are considered the best workers
from the sub-region. This is a legacy that helps us to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.
We have seen some very important projects in Mozambique in recent years, such as the Sasol gas pipeline and the Mozal
aluminium smelters. These must have made a huge difference to Mozambique's economy and development? True, but there
is more room for South African investment in Mozambique, for mutual advantage. Agriculture and livestock are important
areas. There are many opportunities in Mozambique, for example in the Zambezi Valley.
There is also room for SA investment in industry, for instance in textiles and garments. Then there is
infrastructure, which is being upgraded in Mozambique — railways, telecommunications, roads and energy. Tourism and
ecotourism is a boom area, not only in the coastal areas, but also in the national parks.
We also welcome the arrival of South African banks, as a way of diversifying our financial sector. Standard Bank and
Absa have arrived, and maybe some others will come. There has been much discussion in SA about the opportunities offered
by the port of Maputo, given some of the inefficiencies and bottlenecks in SA's own infrastructure. I assume
Mozambique would welcome the development of South African exports through your country? We are developing major
corridors to the ports. They are important for Mozambique and for our neighbours. There has been new investment in
upgrading the port at Maputo, dredging the channel and putting in new equipment. They are aggressive in their marketing,
and are competing now with Durban. I think we offer better facilities. We need to maximise the capacity of our
sub-region, and SA has also been investing in facilitating access to the port of Maputo. Some South African automotive
companies are looking at Maputo — BMW, Ford and others. We are also looking at mining products, citrus and sugar.
One problem, though, has been the bottlenecks at the SA-Mozambique border. What is being done to deal with this? Our
border authorities are working together to streamline procedures and accommodate the increasing traffic. Before, we
closed the border at 5pm; now it's at 7pm; and the aim is to keep it open 24 hours a day. We do this in the
December peak period, and we are in a learning process. The concept of one border is agreed — there is political support
from both governments to move forward, and it's now a question of resolving the technical issues. Tourism is a big
growth industry in SA, and I assume that it can also do wonders for the Mozambican economy? SA is a good hub for tourism
into Mozambique, but we are also attracting people directly. We already have charter flights from the Middle East. We
are working with SA and some other SADC states to boost international tourism to our sub-region. This is why we are
trying to have common policies on immigration. It goes without saying that you support the regional and African
initiatives such as SADC and Nepad? Nepad will help us to accelerate regional integration and development. Now we are
gaining better knowledge of one another, this will improve trade and investment between African countries. Nepad is
about using our own resources for development, and bringing in external partners from the rest of the world — such as
the Japanese and Chinese. All this will help us to accelerate what we are doing. But peace and stability on the
continent is important as well. And we need to accelerate the implementation of the SADC trade protocol.
Finally, one deterrent for both business people and tourists planning a visit to Mozambique is the problem of
malaria. What is being done about the disease? This is the biggest challenge our health service is facing. We are
working with different partners, including SA, to implement programmes to eradicate malaria. There is a lot of research
going on, and there is some success.
[Business Day (South Africa)] |
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