Mozambique: Prime Minister invites businesses to invest in hydrocarbon sector

The Mozambican Prime Minister Benvinda Levi has invited international corporations to invest in the country’s hydrocarbon sector, which represents a strategic opportunity for national economic growth. According to the Prime Minister – who was speaking on Wednesday at the panel discussion entitled “Governments and the Future of Investment: the African Perspective”, held within the framework of the Global Government Summit – Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects are strategic asset that positions Mozambique on the map of sustainable energy. She cited the resumption of the Mozambique LNG project, led by the French company Total Energies and budgeted at over 20 billion US dollars, as an example of success to be considered by the international investors.

“We faced several challenges related to terrorism, which hampered gas exploration in the Northern Province of Cabo Delgado, but the situation is currently under control. Today, these problems are minimized and we have investments from global companies such as ExxonMobil, Total Energies and ENI. It is clean gas, of very high quality, which makes it attractive to all markets”, she said.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the country’s mining potential, referring to the recent inauguration of a large industrial unit. “One of the largest graphite factories in the world has been inaugurated,” she said, underlining the strategic importance of this mineral. In the area of economic governance, she pointed to Mozambique’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list as a positive factor.

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“We know that being on that list greatly limits investment.” “Mozambique is establishing itself as a true logistics hub. Landlocked countries utilize the country’s ports, roads, and railways for foreign trade. Tourism was identified as one of the priority sectors for economic diversification.

Our coastline is over two thousand kilometers long, and tourism has been declared an essential area”, she said. She also reiterated the importance of agriculture for inclusive development, claiming that “this sector can drive the country’s development, with both domestic and foreign investment, because we have rare earth elements, arable land, water, and other resources”, she said.

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