Minister Lauds AfDB’s Development Support For Mozambique

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Economy and Finance Minister of Mozambique, Ernesto Max Elias Tonela has commended the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the implementation of its development support programmes in his country.

The minister gave the commendation while playing host the AfDB Vice-President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, Mr. Solomon Quaynor, during his official visit Mozambique last week.

Tonela also thanked the Bank for helping to build human capacity in Mozambique. He said the government had launched a reform programme to support businesses, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.

During the visit, Quaynor met with Mozambican government representatives and members of the private sector. Discussions covered the bank’s country strategy for Mozambique, recent reforms the government has undertaken, and the country’s strategic energy and transport sectors in particular.

He was on a tour of southern African that also took him to Eswatini South Africa and Zimbabwe. AfDB’s Country Manager for Mozambique, Cesar Mba Abogo, joined him for the meetings with Tonela, who is the Bank governor for Mozambique.

Other officials he met were Minister of Transport and Communications Mateus Magala, and Minister of Industry and Commerce Silvino Augusto Moreno. Discussions also covered transport and logistics infrastructure.

Magala, who was until recently, the AfDB’s vice president for human resources and corporate services said Mozambique has a strategic geographic location in the region, making it an ideal route to port access for neighboring landlocked countries including Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Malawi and Zambia.

“Strategic and innovative investments in improving the major transport systems and port efficiency can transform Mozambique into a major logistics hub”, he stressed.

Quaynor also met with leaders of Mozambique’s state oil and fuel company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, the Mozambican Association of Banks, French energy firm Total Energies, and representatives of the diplomatic corp and industry associations.

The AfDB vice president commended the Mozambican government for pushing through reforms that are expected to accelerate economic recovery from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth.

He said the government’s reforms align with the bank’s new country strategy, covering the 2022-2027 period, and its initiatives to strengthen the private sector.

The bank’s new country strategy prioritizes economic private sector investment and structural transformation of agricultural value-chains.
Under the previous country strategy, which covered the period 2017-2022, Mozambique launched or completed several key projects. They included the Nacala corridor, Temane transmission lines, the Pemba-Lichinga special agro-processing zone and the Drought Recovery and Agriculture Resilience initiative.

Meanwhile, AfDB’s current country portfolio of $1.04 billion comprises 23 projects, concentrated in the energy, transport and agriculture sectors