A major investment conference was held in London on Thursday, aiming to increase British investment in Mozambique.Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi opened the conference. He headed a senior delegation including the ministers of Agriculture, Mineral Resources and Transport, Jose Pacheco, Esperanca Bias and Paulo Zucula.The conference tapped into the growing interest in the potential rewards of investing in Mozambique. More people than expected wished to attend, and the organisers were concerned that over three hundred had registered, while the venue, the National Liberal Club in central London, only has space to accommodate 200. The British weather solved this problem. Some of the worst snow that the country had seen in decades caused severe disruption to the transport network, and kept dozens of would-be delegates away. The organizers proved able to cope with the 250 people who braved the weather and did attend.One of the key speakers at the conference was the British Under-secretary of State for International Development, Stephen O'Brien, who stated, 'Mozambique is a country of huge potential. Growth in the private sector is the best way out of poverty, and is good for development'.O'Brien argued that 'it is the job of the British government to reduce the 'beta' risk of investing in Mozambique in partnership with other countries'.For the British Minister, private sector investment is critical to development as it is the engine for growth and prosperity. It was also in Britain's strategic interest to invest early in countries such as Mozambique.Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco told potential investors of the country's comparative advantage in agriculture and pointed out that Mozambique is the gateway to the southern African region.Keith Palmer, the chairman of the project development company, AgDevCO, reinforced this outlook. This company is investing heavily in the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor, where he says there is the potential for 200,000 hectares of irrigated agriculture (currently only 50,000 hectares of land is irrigated in the whole country). This gives investment opportunities of an estimated 1.7 billion US dollars over the next 20 years.Palmer stated that the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor alone could make Mozambique a net exporter of food.Peter Hesketh, the Director of the Sainsbury Foundation Charitable Trust, confirmed the potential offered by Mozambique. He pointed out that there isa 'need for a new frontier to feed the world' and that 'Mozambique is a unique proposition in terms of water and soil, diversified crops, and the ability to get crops to market before competitors'.The Trust has set up the agricultural group Aquifer, which operates under the brands Mia, Mozfoods, Tia Rosa and Vanduzi. It is producing crops that are sold in Mozambique and on the supermarket shelves in Britain.According to Hesketh, Mozambique's 'agricultural opportunities are borderline limitless'.Speakers praised both the role of the Mozambican government and the country's management and workers. Tony McCluskey of Kenmare Resources, which runs the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in the northern province of Nampula, said that 'the government has been very supportive of the Moma mine over many years'.He praised the Minister of Mineral Resources, Esperanca Bias, for her role in ensuring that the response to the recent disaster that hit the village next to the mine, which was inundated with water when the mine's dam burst, was dealt with as quickly as possible.Eric Kohn, the chair of Noventa, which has invested in the tantalum mine at Marropino, in Zambezia province, strongly argued for the development of Mozambican management, and advised investors to avoid relying on management support from out of South Africa.Graham Mascall from the Ncondezi Coal Company, which hopes to mine coal in Tete province, stated, 'Mozambique is an attractive country for investment with an attractive fiscal regime'.He pointed out that the Zambezi Basin is one of the largest undeveloped coal basins in the world, which can respond to the growing demand for thermal and coking coal.A warning note was struck by Professor Paul Collier who said that depleting national assets must be matched by building up other assets. He pointed to the lesson from Nigeria where resources in the Niger Delta region had been plundered. He also stressed that ancillary infrastructure must be multi-user (this refers to the expansion of road, rail and electricity networks needing to satisfy the needs of communities and not just business interests).Minister Esperanca Bias pointed out 'Mozambique has learnt from other countries. Part of the revenues from mining must go back into the community'. She also emphasised that the country is interested in membership of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Kimberley Process.Transport Minister Paulo Zucula stressed the improvements that are being made to the transport network, especially the ports. Maputo and Beira ports are being dredged so that larger vessels can dock, and a new deep water port is to be built at Techobanine, south of Maputo, at a cost of seven billion US dollars.
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