Mozambique Summit returns to Maputo

With 250 national and international participants expected, the Financial Times Mozambique Summit returns to Maputo on Thursday November 8 under the motto ‘Building a Full Economic Recovery’.

“Following on the previous successful editions, the 2018 Financial Times Mozambique Summit will bring together key ministers, political stakeholders along with local and international business leaders to debate the reforms and solutions that will facilitate growth, transform challenges into opportunities, and diversify the country’s economy,” the FT Mozambique Summit webpage reads.This year’s edition will bring together the main ministers, political players and local and international business leaders.

The 32 key speakers so far announced include Finance Minister Adriano Maleiane; NneNne Iwuji-Eme, the newly-appointed British High Commissioner to Mozambique; Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Higino de Marrule; Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources João Osvaldo Machatine; Africa Regions Standard Bank Chief Executive Sola David-Borhal; Minister of Industry and Commerce Ragendra de Sousa; FastJet Chief Executive Officer Nico Bezuidenhout; East and Southern Africa United Bank for Africa (UBA) CEO Emeke Iweriebor; and the Resident Representative in Mozambique of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ari Aisen.

“Mozambique is now viewed as a ‘two-speed’ economy, showing significant growth in mega projects and extractives, while other sectors struggle to keep up,” reads the FT summit’s official website, in an introductory text to the event, which adds: “Despite the promise of potential, there is still much work to be done to ensure a resilient and sustained economy.  The long-term growth prospects for Mozambique remain robust, if efforts continue to address the challenges of bureaucracy, limited basic infrastructures, talent shortages, and a lack of transparency.” Standard Bank supports the holding of the third edition of the Financial Times Summit in Mozambique as part of actions to boost the development of the Mozambican economy, in line with its vision of positioning itself as a government partner in the attraction and implementation of investments for Mozambique.

Sola David-Bora, Standard Bank Group CEO for the African continent, will talk to BBC World News presenter Lerato Mbele-Roberts about the importance of supporting small and medium enterprises’ access to finance.Financial Times Live, which organises the summit, intends to capitalise on the enormous economic potential and challenges our country faces in establishing a resilient economy.With the support of Standard Bank and other key partners, the summit will create a vital vision for senior leaders and provide a valuable opportunity for interaction.The event features an interactive agenda, with interviews, speeches and sessions consisting of panels, expecting a participation of close to 250 people.The organisation’s introduction to Thursday’s event further states: “The government is seeking to strengthen partnerships with international stakeholders based on common interests, ensuring investments not only contribute to the success of partners, but towards the development of the region. Structural measures to diversify the economy are in place as priorities shift towards key sectors predicted to drive growth and stimulate new business.”