December 2004 marked the third peaceful and democratic election in the ten years. Rule of law has become the norm in Mozambique. And our enthusiasm for and commitment to the rule of law and democratic process has naturally prompted us to work within regional and international frameworks, to great benefit.

Mozambique has risen from the ashes politically and economically and is moving forward with one of the world’s highest economic growth rates. Since macro-economic stability was achieved in 1996, the growth rate has averaged 8 percent per year, even taking into account the disastrous floods of 2000.

Mozambique occupies 500,000 square miles of the south east coast of Africa bordering South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Tanzania. Mozambique is a country with a coastline of 1,700 miles on the Indian Ocean, a country well served by 25 major rivers and several deep-water ports. Our coast is complemented by a network of ports, roads, and railways that links us with the great African interior.

Mozambique has immense untapped export potential, especially in agricultural goods and products - mainly due to our vast amounts of uncultivated arable and well-watered land but also due to our productive labour force. About 46 percent of Mozambique’s land area is suitable for agricultural production. However, at present, only about 14 percent is cultivated. The rest awaits development.

Mozambique has a wide range of fertile soils and climatic conditions that makes possible a remarkable variety of crops - including cashews, cotton, tobacco, rice, every conceivable tropical fruit, and spices - often months before similar crops are harvested in other countries and with the added advantage of reversed Southern Hemisphere seasons for cold weather Northern Hemisphere markets.

Other agriculture-related areas offer vast potential, such as forestry, fisheries as well as game and livestock production. Our vast amounts of arable land offer huge potential, not only for timber production, for fisheries and for raising game and livestock, but also for value-added transformation of these commodities into final products, such as furniture and final food products.

Our climate, which varies from tropical to temperate is generally favourable, and our soils are fertile and receive ample rainfall. Abundant surface water - 100 river basins, 1,300 lakes, and 10 dams - has enormous potential for irrigation.

Mozambique enjoys enhanced market access for our agricultural products within the region and worldwide. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a market that includes over 200 million people, including South Africa, will soon be a free trade area. Under the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative, Mozambique has unrestricted access to European markets for most agricultural products. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) affords us tariff and duty-free preferences on many agricultural products into the United States. And our membership in the World Trade Organisation helps bring additional transparency and predictability to our trading relationships worldwide.

We are improving our business environment. We are making considerable efforts to:
•    Reduce the incidence of AIDS so that our labour force is healthy, productive and reliable.
•    Streamline and expedite customs transaction times. Our goal is to clear all imports within 48 hours by the end of this year.
•    Pass new legislation that will simplify our business registration and licensing processes. Our One-Stop-Shops help businesses register their businesses.
•    Introduce a new commercial code that makes it easier for businesses to conduct business in Mozambique.
•    Improve our labour law.
•    Improve our physical infrastructure, including introducing private sector management into our ports and improving our roads, airports and railway systems. By the end of the year, we will have reconstructed our major north-south highway as well as key east-west links with Africa’s interior.
•    Fight corruption.
•    Make government service-oriented, that is, responsive to business and people - an essential aspect of democracy. I’ve launched a major campaign to ensure effective service delivery to citizens and businesses in Mozambique.
•    Improve our system of protecting property rights. We have recently made arrests of individuals engaged with importing counterfeit products. We still have work to do in this area, but are committed to strengthening our system of intellectual property rights.
•    Revise the labour legislation in order to give more flexibility to the labour market.
•    Strengthen our commercial and labour dispute resolution mechanism and reform our judicial system.
•    Improve our tax system by making it simpler and less onerous on businesses.

Mozambique, as with numerous other African nations, is open for business. We not only welcome your interest, we will do all we can to secure private sector partnerships for the development especially of agriculture.

We are well aware of the importance of foreign investors in our development process and the role they can play to foster our economic growth in the years to come. That is why Mozambique has taken steps forward to make the business environment friendlier to those that are willing to come and invest in our country.

Come to Mozambique. Come see our quiet democratic revolution, and to assess your own investment possibilities. Come to see the good news of millions of talented, ambitious, and gracious people ready to work for and with you. Come and let’s do business.

A. FERNANDO
Minister of Industry and Trade