Twenty years of peace in Mozambique: Head of UNIDO ITPO Italy intervened in the Country Presentation

Rome, October 16th 2012. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Mozambique organized a Country Presentation for the Southern Africa country, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Peace Agreements signed in Rome in 1992.

In this context, the Head of UNIDO ITPO Italy, Mrs. Diana Battaggia, illustrated the efforts that the Office, with the contribution of the Italian Development Cooperation, makes to support local companies. Besides the organization of several study tours and capacity building sessions, noteworthy is the implementation of the delegate programme. Within this framework two Mozambican representatives had the chance to promote their projects among Italian entrepreneurs. Moreover, by highlighting that UNIDO has been developing cooperation projects in this country since 1980, Ms. Battaggia explained that Mozambique represents a real development model.

“Africa has come to occupy a central position in our foreign policy. The further development in our relations with the continent and its most dynamic countries is an integral and key element of diplomacy for growth”, Minister Terzi underscored. The Minister also mentioned that Mozambique represents a virtuous example of the role that development cooperation played, since “the development cooperation philosophy has changed”, it is no longer based on a donor approach, but on a philosophy of partnership on an equal footing.

Minister Baloi agreed with this analysis and he underscored that “everything that has been achieved in these years has only been possible thanks to Italy’s contribution to Mozambique's economic diversification, job creation and the fight against poverty”.

In this context, many high-level Mozambican institutional and entrepreneurial representatives presented the relevant aspects concerning public tenders and concessions, as well as the investment and the industrial and commercial collaborations opportunities offered by the country: first of all, the key sectors of infrastructures, water resources, gas and mining, renewable energies, food processing and tourism.