Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury Eric Meyer on Tuesday urged Mozambican authorities to invest in reforms of the country’s business environment as a way to attract more US private investment.
Eric Meyer underlined the need to create a more favourable business climate in Mozambique in remarks to journalists after a meeting with the Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA), the country’s main entrepreneurs’ association.
“Mozambique is more than gas. There are other sectors with great potential, and I hope that US companies will benefit, but that will depend on what Mozambique does,” Meyer said.
If the country was able to undertake real reforms to improve the business climate, Meyer continued, it would attract more private investment and partnerships.
“Political and economic stability are important, and it is important that the government continues with the many reforms it is implementing,” he said. Mozambique and the US continued to maintain good economic relations, but there was scope for strengthening and deepening ties.
In reply, CTA director Rui Monteiro highlighted the need to strengthen the financial capacity of Mozambican companies, so that they were able to establish partnerships with their foreign counterparts, including in the US.
In this regard, the country must quickly overcome difficulties regarding certification of products it wanted to export to the US under the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), put in place by the US government to boost exports from African countries to the North American market.
“We lack the certification to participate [in AGOA], and also the financial strength to develop the Mozambican private sector,” Monteiro said.
-Lusa/ COM
