Interview with H.E. Filipe Nyussi , President of Mozambique

06 Jun Interview with H.E. Filipe Nyussi , President of Mozambique

Global Insight: You are the fourth Mozambican president, and you belong to a second generation of leaders who did not participate in the national liberation struggle (1964-1975) against Portugal and who were trained as technical cadres by FRELIMO. Could you summarize your vision for Mozambique with reference to the country’s peace and democratic progress, as a regional as well as an international player? How do you imagine Mozambique in 10- or 20-years’ time and what are the pillars of your presidency?

As you have rightly pointed out I belong to a generation that I can say that I’ve seen the movement that has expelled Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique, but I was still very young, not a fighter. Mozambique is a country that was freed from the colonial yoke and dedicated time for nation building. After the independence, we had a few problems, because in the attempt of supporting other people to get their freedom in the region, such as Zimbabwe and South Africa, we had consequences, and Mozambique ended up in internal armed conflicts between Mozambicans that were supported by different forces. But despite this, in 92, we’ve managed to address this problem through a peace agreement. We experienced a moment where the expectation was to embark on production to build Mozambique, but there was no peace, no total tranquility. We embarked into another phase where I became President from 2015, where the major mission I had was to build peace to enable development projects to take place. We’ve been doing this so far because the issue of peace has to be fed permanently, particularly in a situation where there are vulnerabilities and there are shortages in life in so many aspects. We are at a stage where we are embarking on disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former guerrilla forces. But at the same time, we are faced with the problem of terrorism and violent extremism in Cabo Delgado, an area where we have important hydrocarbon projects. This is another challenge.

In addition to democratization that is ongoing and the decentralization process in Mozambique, we can consider as major challenges – you call them pillars – the national unity to prevail, and that the people of Mozambique should be united, because we’re a unitary state, a very large country with different cultures; we need to take this as an opportunity to build a nation. But also, we have another important aspect, which is to consolidate the democratic processes in Mozambique since 1992. Since 1994, we’ve always held elections and never failed. We need to do that so that democracy is felt by everyone.

Another important aspect is development. This is a challenge, a pillar: we need to promote human development: social activities, education, employment, and welfare for the communities in the economy and economic development. There is need to attach importance to the diversification of our economy; we should not just focus on gas, oil, or mining, we need to diversify our economy, particularly because we have traditional activities such as agriculture, we need to modernize and upgrade our technology, but we also need to expand the production in different areas. We have a project now which is called “Sustenta”, which means sustain. It’s an agricultural activity, which is well structured, and which is intended to cover more areas.

Another important area is to promote private sector investments. This is very important because the private sector can employ more people and they can produce, they’re more competent, more competitive; and we need to force the competitive activities of production. With peace, we are trying to develop a culture of hard work; people need to have a culture of hard work. And also, environmental sustainability; we should develop that, we should not do it at the cost of our nature. We can develop our production, investments, but we need to preserve the environment and nature. Now, for instance, we have the problem of climate change.

GI: We need to take care of Africa and Mozambique, its natural resources and energy resources. They have alternative sources for countries of the world affected by supply crises or the changes the Russia-Ukraine war has generated. How can you do that when there are issues such as geopolitical, environmental, etc.? What is the impact for Mozambique’s medium- and long-term strategic development? Could you share some key economic indicators in 2022 and 2023?

 You have rightly pointed it out. Mozambique has a major opportunity to serve during the energy transition. Mozambique is not a pollutant of our environment. We are well placed to serve other countries in terms of energy resources, but we can also generate solar and gas power, because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, not only for Europe, but for the whole world. We are feeling this with grain or cereals but also in the area of fertilizers where we are having problems.

In Mozambique, we can play an important role in energy transition through natural gas. We can be a solution, and we want to be part of this solution, looking carefully at our measure indicators. One to capitalize is sovereignty of food security. Mozambique should be able to feed itself and also feed other countries. Regarding energy, the first consignments of that have been taken by Mozambique and we are supplying liquefied natural gas to Europe to assist to quell this crisis. We are not competing with anyone, but we want to be part of the solution to the problems of the world. We want to reduce dependence as well. Mozambique should be self-reliant and self-sufficient in many sectors. That’s why we are capitalizing on the issue of peace. Without security, for us to develop our hydrocarbon projects cannot happen in an environment of lack of peace. That’s why diplomatically we are trying to have more friends, we want to have zero enemies, and we are promoting a win-win cooperation.

GI: Can you mention some economic indicators?

 This year, our GDP was good. We had envisaged 2.1% growth of our GDP, but we ended up having 4.05% of GDP. It means we’re moving forward; we are emerging from COVID, we are emerging from destructions as we had two cyclones last year. But despite all these shocks, our economy is growing, and we believe that with hydrocarbons, we can grow even further.

GI: In the past, Japan exerted its influence in the African continent through support and aid to development aid. The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) has tried to change it by promoting more private public partnership, through private investment. This partnership could be expanded to ensure growth at Mozambique, for instance, with Japan financing for a new container terminal at the Mozambican port of Nacala or the mega projects of Mitsui & Co, Japan oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. and Jogmec. How important is the project mentioned for Mozambique and the country’s economic development? How important was and is now the Japan-Mozambique partnership? Can you think of any other major project where Japanese participation was instrumental?

 We are beneficiaries of TICAD. We have also co-hosted a TICAD in Mozambique. In addition to a TICAD that was held in Tunisia, we organized a ministerial meeting of TICAD, which means that we are part and parcel of this. We have participated in this structure in the Japanese investments in Africa and we want to do more, because we need more. We want that relationship of partnership with the private sector investment, and you have rightly pointed out the Nacala Port, whereby the port has been expanded, the terminal has been modernized and it is equipped. This is a major project, this year to be completed, because Nacala Port is the deepest of deep waters ports of Mozambique, which does not require dredging. It is at an area where we have an excellent airport. It’s a Special Economic Zone. It has a railway line that connects Malawi through Nacala Port for many products. I once worked at that port: some ports where congested and because of the deep waters of the Nacala Port, those ships are to come to Nacala.

We have a visit of the President of Zambia very shortly at the Port of Beira, and they have the possibilities of using the Nacala Port, as well as Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nacala Port is a gateway for the world.

There are other projects which are very important. For instance, the one that you have mentioned of oil and gas, hydrocarbons, where Mitsui is also a shareholder. We are doing everything so that this project can resume and have a major impact. We also have the issue of the thermal power plant in Maputo. We take every visit that comes to Maputo. When the Prime Minister of Japan will come, we are suggesting that he should visit it. It’s a modern complex, it’s a combined power plant.

We have other projects like the road Cuamba-Nampula of 384 kilometers, as well as the investments of Japan for the road of Montepuez-Roas, which is a road that is completing the triangle moving from Yesse to Cuamba and Nampula. This is developing with the funding of JICA. We have a lot of mining graphite in that area, in addition to agriculture. We have the projects of seven bridges. We have projects in Maputo province and in Cabo Delgado due to security problems. We would like to see if all these projects can be resumed.

There are many other projects that are taking place. I met the Japanese JICA who are interested in promoting the rice crop in Cabo Delgado. We have a company that is growing rice, it has just produced liquor out of rice, and it’s being exported to Japan. Beira Port needs dredging and there are Japanese investments that participate in its dredging. They also participate to weather problems as we have had cyclones, rains, and flooding. We also have Japanese investments at Aluminum Smelter Mozal, one of the major Aluminum smelters in Mozambique. There are so many things we can do together. We have to do this to make our economic cooperation grow.

GI: Before TICAD 8, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, announced that the private and public sectors of Japan have mobilized about 30 billion US dollars for the funding of the African continent over the next ten years, particularly for the promotion of green growth. “Africa is a market of the future and the investment opportunities it offers to the Japanese are enormous” the African Development Bank president mentioned this. What can you anticipate on the difficulties of development and funding of Mozambique over the next 10 years? What are the targets for socio economic development and what are the projects that once completed can transform the economy or investment environment? You are invited to include the legal reforms for major infrastructure development and sector development in terms of manufacturing, agriculture, industry, energy, or tourism, transport, et cetera.

 You have ended up saying what is required. This announcement of fundings by the Prime Minister is quite encouraging. This will help develop the African continent, but particularly for Mozambique, what is priority is to establish food security. Our projects should be focused on food sovereignty because this is basic. Then we have the energy transition. There is a project in Mozambique, whereby there is a presidential initiative, which is Energy for All: we are electrifying districts and administrative posts at villages. We have 154 districts, and we have around 300 administrative posts. We decided to electrify all district headquarters, we’ve just completed that, and now we’re moving to the electrification of administrative posts. We need to complete this by 2024. These are important projects.

Agriculture is another important area. There is the Sustenta project. There is another project which is Natura. It is part of the policy of inclusiveness, empowering women, and also youth so that we employ the youth. Only through this way, the livelihoods of people can improve based on the inclusion of the youth. We also need to diversify our production. But we need to respect cultural diversity because we have so many cultures in Mozambique, and this is very important. It’s also important to invest on our mining; there is a lot of informal mining, but if we have a structured investment, mining could be structured in a modernized way, including processing those minerals. That’s why these investments are very important.

Japan has got a very good thing: they try to know what the requirements are, what the needs of the countries are, they do not impose projects, and we have so many areas. We can also find training for human development. So far there are not many Japanese investments. Even those investments we have mentioned, except hydrocarbons, oil and gas, energy, or aluminum, if we subtract these Japanese investments, about 25 million, this is little; we need to do a bit more.

This will be an opportunity, not only for our extractive industry, but also for water sources. We need to invest a lot in terms of water sources. We have a lot of rivers, and we have rains. When it rains, water flows to the sea, and you don’t have water for irrigation. There are times that there are no rains, and we have a shortage of water.

We can also talk about the need for more transport infrastructures. We can talk also about institutional capacity building. We need to build the capacity of institutions so that they can operate properly. The effort we have is to change the trade balance.

GI: African leaders who participated in TICAD8 in Tunis last year, conveyed a message that they were intending to achieve food sovereignty in Africa. African countries wanted to have access to the special drawing rights funds from the IMF and World Bank. The President of Tunisia made a call for the invention of new development solutions by focusing on women and youth. Japanese investment should be focused to those areas. What would you add to the priorities mentioned by the President of Tunisia?

 I ended up talking about that. The inclusiveness of women, youth, the investments, and the policies are aligned to what we are doing in Mozambique. If you revisit my answers, you will see that I’ve already responded to the issue of food sovereignty and the inclusion of youth and women in production. We agree with that principle, and the projects are the ones that I mentioned. We have various projects, and that can only be done through appropriate budget. We need to know what the capacity or gaps of absorption of these investments is.

GI: Just to finalize, Mr. President, we would love to give you an opportunity to send the final message for the readers of The Japan Times but not only the readers, but all over the world, of what needs to be done for Mozambique to be the right place for investment or to visit and to live in Mozambique?

 First, I wish to congratulate all for the work they’ve been doing, and this has an impact. Mozambique has a lot of opportunities in terms of opportunities for investment in agriculture, fisheries, energy, or tourism. This is a very large, long, and extensive country. If you want to see the big five, they are here. We are very friendly people. We have very good culture; we can cook well. Mozambique needs to be visited. I believe all those who visited Mozambique will never regret.

But particularly, Mozambique is a country that is worth investing in all areas: cash crops, export crops, we have a lot of minerals, fauna, and flora. We have a lot of bushes, we have mountains that other countries do not have, and we have wildlife. I would like to invite you to visit us quite more often and report on our country and talk to people so that you understand and have an overview of Mozambique. Once again, I would like to thank Japanese Times for having chosen Mozambique to conduct this interview and talk so that we are on the map through your services.

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