MACAUHUB NEWS SUMMARISED FOR MOZAMBIQUE From 30th May to 04th June 2013 Mozambique to sign framework agreement on investment with Japan May 30th, 2013 Mozambique and Japan are this week in Yokohama, Japan, due to sign a framework agreement on investments in the energy and mining sectors, Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias reported. The agreement, which will be signed as part of the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), to be held from 1 to 3 June, is intended to drive greater Japanese investment in the energy and mining sector in Mozambique. According to Notícias, this is the second agreement of its kind Japan has signed with an African country, and the first was signed with Egypt in 1978. Whilst in Yokohama, as well as taking part in TICAD V, the Mozambican President will lead his country’s delegation in a meeting with the Japanese government, meet with Japanese businesspeople and visit the African Fair, held in Yokohama with the participation of 49 countries. Mozambique will take part in the fair with a stand where it will promote investments in the Special Economic Areas of Nacala and Manga-Mungassa and the Beluluane Industrial Area, in Matola. Cape Verde’s Prime Minister, José Maria Neves, is also due Thursday to travel to Japan to take part in TICAD V, and will use the trip to meet with Japanese businesspeople in the fishing sector, according to the Cape Verdean press. The prime Minister said that these meeting were intended to develop a platform for fishing “so we can build up a greater dynamic of growth and more employment on the island of São Vicente.” TICAD V marks the 20th anniversary of cooperation between Japan and Africa and is co-organised by the Japanese government, the United Nations, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the African Union. The first meeting took place in 1993 and, as well as all the African nations, the event also welcomes members from guest States, international organisations, observers and members of civil society. Graphite reserves in Balama, Mozambique, exceed those of the rest of the world Australian mining company Syrah Resources has raised its estimates of graphite deposits in the Balama mining project in Mozambique to 117 million tons, along with 2.7 million tones of vanadium pentoxide, according to a statement issued Monday. In the document, the Australian company said that the graphite reserves at the mining concession in Mozambique actually exceed world graphite reserves, which at the end of 2012 stood at 77 million tons, according to the United States Geological Service. “Syrah plans to make Balama the world’s largest low cost graphite producer, overtaking China and putting a high quality product on an expanding market,” the statement said. The Balama concession, which covers an area of 106 square kilometres, is located in an area some 265 kilometres west of the capital of Cabo Delgado province, Pemba. Graphite is a high value type of carbon due to its electrical conduction properties and can be used in batteries and fuel, and is also the basis of graphene, a material with high potential sue in the electronics industry. World graphite production totals 1.3 million tons per year and prices vary based on quality and size. Powdered graphite is sold at US$700 per ton and higher quality graphite is sold for up to US$6,000 per ton. Vanadium pentoxide is sold at just over US$13,000 per ton and is used to produce stainless steel for surgical instruments and other tools. Mozambique seeks additional funding for ProSavana project May 31st, 2013 The Mozambican government plans to secure additional funding for the ProSavana programme, due to be carried out in the provinces of Nampula, Niassa and Zambézia, with financing and technical support from Japan and Brazil, the Minister for Agriculture said in Yokohama. With a view to reproducing in Mozambique Brazil’s success in transforming its “cerrado” region into arable land, ProSavana is expected to have a direct effect on 4 million Mozambicans living along the area of the Nacala Corridor. Minister José Pacheco said that Japan had already provided US$38 million to fund research, extension and drawing up of the ProSavana master plan. “These resources will also make it possible to set up laboratories in the northern region to support agriculture, mainly for soil analysis, and to evaluate diseases in different crops and animals,” said the minister, who added that most of the funding depended on conclusion of the master plan. Pacheco, who is in Japan as part of Mozambique’s official delegation to the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), said that Japan was, with US$11 million, the main contributor to the investment plan for the Mozambican agricultural sector as a whole. “With the conclusion of the ProSavana master plan we hope there will be a consignment of specific resources for development of the Nacala Corridor,” the Mozambican Agriculture Minister said. Meanwhile, members of the National Union of Rural Workers and representatives of non-governmental organisations Wednesday in Yokohama published an open letter in which they argue that the ProSavana programme is intended to drive foreign investment in Mozambique and will put family-based agriculture at risk. The document said that the rural workers have been sidelined in the process and that part of ProSavana is already underway without the required environmental impact studies being carried out. Austria finances conservation agriculture project in Mozambique Austria is funding a pilot project in Mozambique for conservation agriculture in Sofala province, with a view to boosting productivity, Eva Kohl, of the Austrian embassy told Mozambican newspaper Notícias. Conservation agriculture involves a number of practices for use of land with the least possible changes to soil composition, structure and biodiversity, and protecting it from erosion and compaction. The project, which will be in place until 2015 and involve financing of 3 million euros, will benefit around 250 associations representing between 4,000 and 5,000 farmers, said the representative of the embassy’s attaché. Kohl noted that for the three years that the project lasts the aim was for the province to make a significant contribution to Mozambique’s food security. The project is designed to ensure direct and indirect improvement to food vulnerability by providing links to other sectors such as retail, industry and markets. International aid to Mozambique expected to exceed US$580 million in 2014 June 3rd, 2013 The commitments made by Mozambique’s programme support partners (G20) for 2014 so far total US$580 million, as a time when four countries – Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom and Portugal – have yet to announce the amount of aid they plan to provide. Of the amount pledged so far, US$310 million will be in direct budgetary aid, and the remaining US$270 million will be channelled as aid for specific sectors of the economy. Daily newspaper Notícias said that if the total contribution from the remaining four countries remained the same as that of 2013, the Mozambican government expects to receive an additional US$90 million. The information was provided Friday, in Maputo, at the ceremony to hand over statements pledging aid for 2014, at a ceremony led by deputy Finance Minister, Pedro Couto. At the ceremony the Danish ambassador to Mozambique, Mogens Pedersen, speaking on behalf of all the partners, noted that the aid was being provided at a time when contributing countries are experiencing a particularly difficult economic situation. The ambassador also said that despite financial difficulties, aid to Mozambique had increased by around 10 percent in 2012, which was a sign of the partners’ commitment to assisting in the country’s development. United States co-funds agricultural programmes in Mozambique Two agricultural programmes funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and by the Mozambican central government were launched Friday in Quelimane, according to the Mozambican press. The two programmes will be carried out over a period of three to five years, and the first, which is called Finagro and has funding of 170 million meticals, is intended to support small and medium-sized companies, associations and cooperatives in the agricultural production, sale and export sector. The Minister for Industry and Trade, Armando Inroga said that the programme would also promote partnerships amongst commercial farmers and small-scale farmers, as well as those that have recently started farming, increase access to means of production and equipment. The programme will also boost production of tropical fruit, specifically mangoes, bananas and pineapple, of oil-producing seeds such as peanuts, soy and sesame, legumes and other food crops such as maize, rice, cassava and others, Inroga said. The second programme is called Re-launch of the Business Sector II, and will have funding of 120 million meticals and be implemented in the province of Gaza and Sofala. It will involve funding for agriculture, sale and provision of agricultural services, agro-industry and financial leasing. Funding for this second programme will be provided at a subsidised interest rate of between 10 and 12 percent and the programme is intended to increase production of high value crops such as rice, as set out in the Action Plan for Food Production. Provinces of Sofala, Mozambique, and Anhui, China, sign cooperation agreement Cooperation between Sofala province in Mozambique and China’s Anhui province, is set to increase following a memorandum of understanding signed in the city of Beira and focused on economic development, Mozambican newspaper Notícias reported. Signed by the local governor, Félix Paulo, and by the deputy governor of Anhui, Xie Guang, the renewable memorandum is initially valid for five years and is intended to boost economic and commercial exchange as well as including staff training initiatives. Notícias added that the provincial secretariat of Sofala province and the Anhui foreign relations department last week began setting up technical groups to bring the memorandum to fruition. Chinese companies currently have some project in Sofala province, particularly in the general trade and exploration and export of wood, mainly to the Asian market. Japan interested in supporting ProSavana project in Mozambique June 4th, 2013 Japan is interested in supporting agriculture in Mozambique, particularly the ProSavana project to convert 10 million hectares of the provinces of Nampula, Niassa and Zambézia into farmland, said Mozambican president, Armando Guebuza. At the end of the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), Guebuza said that Japan in partnership with Brazil, was interested in transforming the region covered by ProSavana into a place where small-scale farmers, by increasing production and yields, can become commercial farmers. Guebuza also said that the Japanese private sector had shown interest in continuing with and even expanding its current projects in Mozambique. “The private sector also showed interest in taking part in new projects, including those linked to small and medium-sized companies, which is fundamental for us, as it is an area that allows us to create a lot of jobs in the country,” he noted. There are currently seven large Japanese groups operating in Mozambique, including Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corp., with interests in the coal sector, and Mitsui and Co, with a stake in Block 1 of the Rovuma basin, where large natural gas deposits have been found. At a previous meeting with the chairman of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Akihiko Tanaka, Guebuza was told that for cooperation with Mozambique priority would be given to funding projects in the Nacala Development Corridor. According to Tanaka, JICA is carrying out several projects in Mozambique, and the preference for Nacala is, amongst other things, due to “it being an integrated regional development programme, that includes improvement and development of the port of Nacala and the road network, the ProSavana agricultural development programme as well as the Health and Education sectors.” Mozambique and South Africa sign ports agreement South Africa’s Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) and the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) Monday in Johannesburg signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the areas of infrastructure and training, according to an official announcement. The agreement was by the two sides as part of a wider aim to integrate regional trade as well as the precursor of documents signed with other ports in Southern Africa, according to South African news agency SAPA. The chairman of TNPA, Tau Morwe, insisting that the agreement was not intended to protect the ports of Mozambique and South Africa from competition, said that the aim of the agreement was to improve coordination and planning amongst the ports in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). In his turn, Osário Lucas said that the MPDC had shared its 20-year master plan with TNPA and Transnet Freight Rail, South Africa’s railway system, in order to develop a regional approach to improve logistics networks. Macauhub News Agency Address: Av. Infante D. Henrique, 43-53 A The Macau Square, 8th Floor – L Macau Phone: (853) -28355315/6 Fax: (853) -28355466
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:23:59 +0000
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