PRIME MINISTER ADDRESSES SUGAR CONFERENCE

Mozambican Prime Minister Aires Ali on Sunday said that the strategy adopted by the government to attract investment into the sugar sector has given Mozambique a growing presence in the international sugar market. Last year Mozambique produced 281,000 tonnes of sugar compared with only 39,000 tonnes in 1998The Prime Minister was speaking in Maputo during the opening of the 12th African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Ministerial Conference on Sugar.The conference takes place at a time when the sugar sector in Mozambique has seen a significant growth in investment and there is a long list of projects due to be launched.Ali declared that “we have been supporting the emergence and consolidation of small and medium sized businesses in the sector. We are providing technical assistance to family producers, supplying agricultural inputs, encouraging the initiatives of large companies to support small scale producers, and holding trade fairs for agricultural products”.According to Aires Ali, the ACP meeting will try to develop a common position in the light of changes taking place in the global market.In 2006 the EU adopted a sugar regime in its market that included a reduction in the price of sugar, which resulted in a considerable shrinkage in the value of ACP sugar exports to that market.Ali pointed out that to alleviate this fall in income the EU financed a package of measures to accompany the reforms to allow ACP member states time to create the conditions for improved competitiveness.However, the EU will implement a new sugar regime after 2015Aires Ali said that the meeting in Maputo will help find a common platform on the challenges posed by the new EU sugar regime, and on trade negotiations with the World Trade Organisation in light of the Doha Round of world trade talks.According to Aires Ali, given the new situation in the international sugar market, there is an urgent need to discuss the diversification of the sugar industry, and to look at the adoption of modern technology to increase the production and productivity of sugar and its derivatives such as ethanol and bio-fuel.At the end of the meeting the participants will visit the sugar factory at Xinavane, one of the biggest agro-processing units in Maputo province.