Candidacy to the UNWTO’s Executive Council

The Minister of Culture and Tourism, Eldevina Materula, has spent a week in Madrid, Spain, establishing contacts in the area of culture and tourism.Minister Materula held a meeting with Zurab Pololikashvili, the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, a meeting aimed at reactivating and strengthening multilateral relations between the parties.Mozambique has submitted its candidacy to the Executive Council of the UNWTO , about which Minister Materula said that: “Mozambique submitted its candidacy so as to be part of the solutions for Africa in a holistic way , with the aim of seeing our African tourism potential and the capacity to attract investment as well as national and international tourists”.

“This candidacy submission for membership of the Executive Council is not a mere institutional exercise; it is a collective action for our continent to become desirable, through joint efforts between the government and the private sector,” she further clarified. Edelvina Materula also attended the International Tourism Fair, FITUR 2021, which took place from the 19th to the 23rd of May, and interacted with several exhibitors.  This year’s FITUR had 350 exhibitors, with tour operators, travel agents, tourist transport companies and digital solutions for hotel companies among the 5,000 companies participating. The current edition of the fair included digital content, as a complement to the face-to-face event, and presented FITUR LIVEConnect, an online platform aimed at the entire professional tourism community, which offered interested parties the opportunity to connect.

The Mozambican minister also held meetings with Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdés Verelst, and the country’s Minister of Culture and Sport, José Rodríguez Uribes, meetings aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation between the parties in the respective fields, with an emphasis on institutional capacity building, technical support and attracting investments. Minister Materula also met Spain-based Mozambican artists and cultural entrepreneurs, with whom she discussed the challenges that they face there, and spoke about the legislation and other actions her ministry and the government are currently undertaking in favour of artists. The meeting covered copyright and related rights law, the registration of artists in the National Social Security Institute (INSS), and the leverage of cultural and creative industries and the internationalisation of Mozambican arts and culture, with artists abroad playing a key role. The minister recognised the role of Mozambican artists based in Spain, of which 269 are registered, in spreading national culture. The event was attended by artists in the areas of music, visual arts, dance and also make-up artists, among others.

In turn, Spain-based Mozambican artists stressed the importance of leveraging the wealth of Mozambican cultural diversity in Spain. Materula also made some clarifications on Mozambique’s socio-economic situation, especially regarding Cabo Delgado, after noticing some misinformation in circulation on the subject. Eldevina Materula was accompanied by the Director-General of the National Institute of Tourism (INATUR), Marco Vaz dos Anjos; by the Director of the National Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (INICC0, Ivan Bonde; by the Advisor for the Tourism Area, Analádya Loureiro; and by the Deputy National Director of Planning and Cooperation, Isabel da Silva.