Skills exchange agreements

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and his Mozambican counterpart Filipe Nyusi have witnessed the signing of five agreements that will help business flow and exchange of knowledge between both countries.Signed in Kigali on the second day of President Nyusi’s visit to Rwanda on Friday, the agreements include bilateral cooperation agreement which in near future will include, opening embassies in respective countries.President Kagame already announced Rwanda’s plan to open the embassy in Maputo.Another agreement that was signed is the visa requirement which exempts visa fee for diplomats from both countries.

They also signed bilateral air service agreement which will allow national carriers of Rwanda and Mozambique to fly to either country.

The list also includes a Memorandum of Understanding between Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the Mozambican Investment Agency to further trade between both countries.Both countries signed agreement to exchange Science and technology, education and professional training.The Heads of State addressed a joint press conference where they agreed to deepen trade and diplomatic cooperation.

“We have defined some areas that are key for either country including; energy, tourism, and infrastructure. For us (Mozambique), we have sugar, tea among others, but this country also has a lot to share especially the technology,” President Nyusi said.Louise Mushikiwabo and her Mozambican counterpart after signing cooperation agreementThe media was eager to ask the input of Nyusi’s visit in the bilateral relationship of Rwanda and Mozambique, but the answer from President Kagame was straightforward.

 

 “My experience with President Nyusi…he is one man who is always asking about the time. Well, bureaucracy can sometimes delay things but I don’t see much business taking place as usual,” Kagame said.President Nyusi also complemented while saying that both Presidents are not that kind of people who meet for mere talks.President Nyusi will visit several activities in the country, ranging from culture with a visit of king palace museum in Nyanza – Southern Province and La Chroniche, the border post between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo in Western province.

However, he already visited the Kigali special economic zone, the Kigali Genocide memorial and technology centers including KLab, a forum of local App developers and Olleh Rwanda which provides 4G Internet.Through these tours, President Nyusi noticed something which helped him to answer a journalist who asked him what Rwanda is offering to Mozambique in this cooperation.“This capacity of Rwandans to reconcile after the genocide tragedy that happened here, is a big lesson to us,” Nyusi said.

“Wherever you go in Rwanda, you see a very young generation which is transforming knowledge into wealth, yet the culture of hard work is key to transformation.”President Kagame also confirmed this reconciliation as an enabler of progress in Rwanda.“Reconciliation is work in progress. There is no time when we can call a deadline but as we address the economic, social issues, we also make our citizen understand the good in working together, that countries do not work like in pocket, but work together,” He said.The Heads of State pledged to deepen trade and diplomatic relations and to transcend challenges that are brought to the continent by external players, in the benefit, not only of Mozambique and Rwanda, but also the continent as a whole.President Nyusi said “This is a very clean city where traffic rules are respected, there are no crimes. I am not saying this to mean that because our country has crimes.”

0pens applications for Innovators in Agribusiness

Future Agro Challenge, the world’s largest agro-entrepreneurs competition and the national agribusiness platform in Mozambique, invites all entrepreneurs and to submit their application to participate in the national selection of the best innovative companies.

The initiative has two categories: AgroNegócio Inovador and AgroJovem.

The best 8 companies in each category will be invited to participate in the final phase of the national competition, to be held in Maputo on 16-17 and 18 October.The finalists will have practical training in business development, pitch presentation, and will have the opportunity to present their business before a panel of judges and public and private sector representatives invited.The winners of the program will be able to exhibit their innovation at the national agribusiness conference, receive support from the Moz Innovation Lab team for the development of their business and the ticket to attend the Global Agripreneurs Summit event, where they can find investors, other innovators of more than 60 Countries and potential clients.

“Participating in the Future Agro Challenge in Mozambique was a great opportunity for our company. Being selected for the international event in Turkey allowed me to learn to present my product to different customers and I got to meet international buyers to export our malambe flour into new markets, “says Anifa Osman, winner of the competition representing Baobab Products Mozambique and recognized among the 10 best companies in the world in the 2017 edition.In Mozambique the program is implemented by Moz Innovation Lab in partnership with Gapi, Barclays Bank, AMSCO and JFS S.A.

Promises to finance Renamo disarmamen

The European Union has decided to offer financial support for the disarmament and integration of Renamo’s armed men with a view to restoring peace, tranquillity and stability in Mozambique, Notícias reports.The support is part of a package of 400 million Euros to be made available this year to carry out various activities, such as the management of public finances, infrastructure, education and water supply. The decision was announced on Wednesday by Stefano Manservisi, Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development, speaking to Mozambican journalists in Cape Verde after meeting President Nyusi on the sidelines of the 12th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).

Notícias reports that the amount corresponds to that which was donated to Mozambique through direct support to the State Budget, but which was cancelled in 2016 as a result of undeclared public debts. Manservisi explained that the decision to support Mozambique’s activities in these sectors results from the recognition of the work that the president, Filipe Nyusi, and his government have been doing in its programme of public  policy reforms.

The EU considers it essential to remain a strong partner of Mozambique in order to achieve the best possible results in the reform programme and the peace dialogue with Renamo.

The meeting with President Nyusi discussed the best way to apply the 400 million Euros, and the four areas were indicated: demilitarisation and reintegration of Renamo’s still-armed men; support for the education sector; infrastructure, particularly road construction and water supply, and public finance management.President Nyusi said that the government welcomed the European Union’s decision and would continue its efforts to clarify the causes that led to the cut in direct support to the state budget and so “regain confidence in our financial system”.The head of state professed himself satisfied that the amount destined to the State Budget would remain in Mozambique, although in the form of direct support to the specific activities.

“The new, positive element in this new partnership with the European Union is that the value will stay in the country, which will allow the development of the selected activities,” Nyusi said.

Eric Prince wants 800 million USD to annihilate insurgents

The entrepreneur and political analyst, Amade Camal, a former Frelimo MP in the first multi-party legislature (1994-9), has no doubt that in their investment packages multinationals include financing terrorist acts to demand what they can not table of negotiations.

How do you see the involvement of the Muslim religion in the killings that are terrifying the province of Cabo Delgado? Do you feel that there are tendencies to stigmatize Islam by relating it to macabre acts?
Yes. There is a strategy of stigmatizing Muslims by associating terrorists with Islam. Unfortunately, people are unaware that any speaker of the Arabic language, whether Muslim, orthodox Christian, or other religion, when he says that God is great, utters the word Allahu Akbar. In the United States there is a group that kills doctors, nurses and arson clinics that perform abortions. They call themselves the army of God. They are murderers, but they are never considered terrorists, they are called radicals.

Unlike Christians, the fanatics of Islam evoke the Koran to commit atrocities. Why is the Qur'an a book that promotes peace?
The Qur'an says that the murder of a human being is equivalent to the punishment of the elimination or murder of all mankind. Therefore, the Quran makes it clear that if there is a forbidden thing is to kill someone. Now Boko Haram, Al Shabab, Islamic State or the terrorists of Cabo Delgado are not following the principles or teachings of Islam. As a Muslim I am against slaughter, destruction or any evil to others. However, my concern is: all these movements the world calls Islamic terrorists came long after the war in Palestine, the invasions in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and many other countries. What was the religious pattern of these invaders? Are terrorists linked to what religion? What does the world say about this group of terrorists who killed thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of a hypothetical democracy? Libya was a prosperous country. The quality of life of the Libyans surpassed that of some European countries and was destroyed. The world thought it was normal.

Let us return to the terror of Cabo Delgado and the involvement of Islam ...
Cabo Delgado's terrorism can not be seen in isolation. It is necessary to understand the economics of hydrocarbons, the performance of the great powers in countries where their multinationals have interests. What is happening in Cabo Delgado is no news to anyone who reads the literature that discusses the economics of hydrocarbons. It is not by chance that Mozambique is experiencing outbreaks of violence, with certain characteristics, at a time when Rovuma's gas exploration is about to begin. Coincidentally, these resources are in a Muslim majority area.

Popular statements indicate that the insurgents believe they have a mission to restore the traditional values ​​of Islam, since they consider Islam practiced in Mozambique as decaying and are fighting against their claims ...
In Mozambique there is no religious war and there is no room for such. Colonialism tried to divide Mozambicans by relying on religion and failed. Frelimo Marxist also tried to divide the Mozambican people through religion, but also failed. It is not true that the killings of Cabo Delgado have the religious side. Four years ago I wrote an article in which I warned the right person that if we can not manage expectations about the resourcesthe country's security will be at risk. I came to this conclusion because universal history says that in the geo-economic strategy of hydrocarbons, in territories where resources are abundant there is war. This does not happen only in countries where the Muslim religion is dominant. We have examples from Congo, South Sudan, Nigeria. Strangely, in countries where multinationals that invest in hydrocarbons come from, there is no war, even with abundant resources such as Norway, the United States or Canada. This shows that there is a pattern of violence from developed to underdeveloped countries due to the control of resources. This violence is secular and is exercised in various forms. Even the hidden debts that are overshadowing the country result from the acrobatics of these powers with imperialist intentions to continue to condition the poor countries and withdraw their resources without counterparts. The hidden debts were contracted by well-identified Mozambicans. Where do multinationals enter? I am not saying that there were no thieves in Mozambique in the debts of Ematum and company. There are people who have taken money into their pockets and who should be held accountable. What I am saying is that we have been deceived or naive to create this situation of unsustainable rupture of our economy. How is it possible for European and American countries to sell war equipment without knowing where will it go and how will it be paid? This is at least odd. It is obvious that our secret services have also made mistakes. You see, those who had the obligation to identify the danger were the ones who led the country into a dangerous situation because of the ambition to make money without sacrifice. The imperialists have several tricks to make their intentions clear. Rather, they seek to identify weaknesses in each system and exploit them at their maximum. They have seen ethical inconsistency on the part of our State security services and managed to anchor the country to satisfy their wishes.

He says that the instability of Cabo Delgado derives from hydrocarbons. However, the Defense and Security Forces look to the insurgents as a group of armed bandits ...
I understand the position of the heads of SDS. They are not stupid. They think very well and know that what they tell society about attacks does not convince anyone. Unfortunately the system is conditioned by investor pressure. The SDS fears that if they take a realistic approach they can condition the investment dollar figures, but the unrealistic approach to things will make the purpose of creating an autonomous village in the hydrocarbon exploration zone. Insurgents exist, are deeply rooted, organized with concrete goals. That is, to create pockets of permanent instability so that the multinationals get everything they could not get at the negotiating table. To that end, they are entertaining us with these terrorist movements to divert us the essential. This is the history of the hydrocarbon war. Cabo Delgado has hydrocarbons, has rubies, graphite, emeralds, is in a privileged geostrategic situation. As Mozambicans we should look at this scenario very seriously.

Some days ago, Blackwater Security owner Erik Prince was ready to eliminate insurgents from Cabo Delgado in three months on a $ 800 million bill. What do you think? Everything is priced. Erik Prince, through his company , reached 90,000 men in the Iraq war. It was a highly equipped contingent. That is, the war machine used by the US to destroy Iraq was from Blackwater. Do you think it's normal for a citizen's company to have such an army and military arsenal?
It became clear that in the Iraq War, Mr. Prince was representing US interests. Speaking of Erik Prince, it is important to remember that at the time of prospecting for hydrocarbons in the Rovuma basin, investors said they spent a million US dollars a day in safety. It was a foreign company that guaranteed the safety of the platforms. I think it is fair that the SDS looked at it as an opportunity to invest in the defense of territorial integrity. I believe that if there had not been so many thefts, the deal would have been viable. However, when the imperialists realized that if the EMATUM, MAM, and ProIndicus, no one would account for the indebtedness and their plans might not go away. Thus, investors its projections of the beginning of gas exploration and from there uncovered the indebtedness and put the country squatting. It is strange that in a situation where we are anchored and under terror caused by a group whose face is unknown, a security company linked to the country of one of the investors in these resources, to say that it ends up with the bad guys in record time in exchange for another indebtedness of the country. In reality, what the imperialists want is to take our resources and leave us at zero.

How do these movements work?
The modus operandi are the same. See what's happening in the Cabinda Conclave in Angola, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya or Iraq. See that this begins at Mocímboa da Praia and soon the population calls such criminals of Al Shabab. The population knows nothing of this. That of Al Shabab is the invention of those responsible for these movements to distract us because they know that Al Shabab acts in a radical way fomented terror in a hideous way. This was engineered in a way to consolidate the connection of these insurgents with the terrorists of Al Shabab.

By canceling Rovuma's gas contracts, the government does not run the risk of being pushed for calling into question the interests of these multinationals ...
Investors do not want to take Frelimo out of power. What they want is to condition governance. Investors know that with Frelimo their interests are protected. The entry of another party can bring uncertainties and investors do not want instability that they do not control.

Signage at Maputo port

The National Institute for Hydrography and Navigation of Mozambique, which is responsible for ensuring navigational safety on national port access channels, will spend US$3.5 million on a “substantial intervention” in signage at the port of Maputo, according to daily newspaper Noticias.The work is intended to give greater dynamism to the port of Maputo, which in recent times has seen an increase in traffic, thanks to the various investments made to improve its performance, namely by deepening the access channel.

The work will cover the entire port access channel, comprising the northern channels, namely Xefina, Polana, Catembe and the Matola Channel, and aims to make access to the port fast and secure, improving its competitiveness in the region.

The investment was used to buy 41 floating buoys, with a monitoring system, equipment with technological facilities for detection and rapid troubleshooting, and allowing for communication with modern ships.On 5 June, a ship carrying more than 100,000 tons of cargo sailed from the port of Maputo to China, marking a new era in the port’s services after dredging work in 2017, which created the conditions to receive and regularly load large ships.