The business community has "a critical role to play" in the African development agenda, Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano declared on Wednesday.
Speaking at the first plenary session of the African Economic Summit in Maputo, he said that, "by entering into partnerships with governments, businesses can bring their contributions to bear on the efforts towards poverty alleviation and the promotion of social and economic well-being".
"The energy and ingenuity that drive business can bring added and desired synergies to the daunting tasks undertaken by governments to promote sustained development", he added.
The responsibility of African governments, he argued, was "to build the necessary institutional capacity to enable Africa to respond to present challenges in an effective, efficient and coordinated way".
Chissano listed those challenges as unemployment, poverty, good governance, peace and stability, sound economic management, and the spread of endemic diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Turning to Mozambique's transition from war to peace, Chissano said "we solved the conflict through dialogue, introducing democratic forms of government, and promoting a culture of peace, reconciliation, forgiveness and tolerance".
Peace brought the stability that allowed Mozambique "to resume our development plans", the President said. "The desirable development interventions are those that aim at helping people realise their human potential and reduce insecurity. They are those that increase opportunities and guarantee that the benefits enjoyed by the current generation are sustained. We believe this is the most efficient way to fight poverty".
The challenge at the core of the government's programme, Chissano believed was "how to sustain broad-based, private sector-led growth, while ensuring that its benefits reach the poor".
"Private sector investment will need to stimulate rural development and increase employment opportunities throughout the country", he said. "This requires maintaining prudent economic management, strengthening the financial sector, building and maintaining key infrastructure, and improving the legal and regulatory framework, which is supportive of private sector development, through increased decentralisation and improved capacity." Sustained efforts were also needed on the social side "to ensure the people's access to basic health and education services".
He added that, since 80 per cent of the labour force works in agriculture, forestry and fishing, an effective poverty reduction strategy "must focus on increasing agricultural incomes, particularly in the short term.
But in the medium to long term, it was industrial development that would be crucial. Mozambique could not limit itself to producing primary products. Manufacturing was key - but "it cannot be limited to highly capital-intensive enclave activities, which create few jobs and benefit few people".
Chissano insisted that "fostering labour-intensive manufactured exports is a key element in Mozambique's growth and poverty reduction strategy".
Fonte: AIM
