Gil da Conceicao Bires

Mozambique - September 2011

Director of the Project Management - CPI - Centre for Investment Promotion

The Director of the Project Management Division from the CPI (Centre for Investment Promotion), Mr. Gil da Conceicao Bires, was hosted at the UNIDO ITPO Office in Italy

More than 40 B2B meetings have been done, with interested entrepreneurs and institutions, on the basis of the projects promoted. The sectors involved included mainly the agro-food and, more specifically, fruit processing, dairy and fishery. Thus, Mr. Bires’ stay represented a concrete possibility for the Italian businessmen and institutional representatives to learn about the investment opportunities offered by the Republic of  Mozambique, and the services offered by the CPI.

Furthermore, the ITPO organized the visit to one of the most important European Districts, the Productive District of Industrial Fishing at Mazara del Vallo. With 142 companies and over 2000 employees, the District in Mazara represents an outstanding body for the productive activities carried out in Sicily. The visits included more specifically the Cantieri Navali sites, Matteo Giacalone srl, Alfa Cold, Frigortecnica and were organized in relation to the Mozambican projects in the fishery sector.

As one of the results arising from this activity, discussions have been started among the District authorities, ITPO Italy and CPI, on some possibilities of cooperation in the fishery chain for this African country.

With the support of ITPO Staff, Mr. Bires participated in the Macfrut Fair and met several companies, thus having the opportunity to know the existing cutting edge technologies in the fields of tomato processing, fruit processing, and packaging.

Particularly interesting was the meeting with Rev Solutions, a company engaged in the packing of fruit and vegetables, that presented an operating machine that allows to pack any type of baskets, using a single material for the closure of the package. This method allows a better waste management and it was of great interest for the Delegate who said that it could be potentially useful for Developing Countries such as Mozambique, where environmental issues have to be carefully taken into account.