I landed in Maputo today, where I will spend the week meeting with representative leaders of the government and non-profit institutions. Mozambique is one of the six countries where the new architecture of capitalism could emerge. I had dinner with Mohamed Harun, Advisor to the Minister of Tourism Fernando Sambana. I will continue the round of meetings meeting with the following individuals before I head off to Dar es Salaam next week: Maria Zimmermann (FAO Representative for Mozambique and Swaziland), Aiuba Cuereneia (Minister of Planning and Development), Patricio Sande (President of the Scientific Research Association of Mozambique, Bernardo Luis Tembe (Executive Director Hluvuku-ADSEMA) and Joseph Rickman (Regional Coordinator for East and Southern Africa, International Rice Research Institute).
A former Portuguese colony and a vast country of roughly eight times the size of Portugal, Mozambique fought and secured independence from the Portuguese in as late as 1975. The country has a 2,400 kilometer coastline and is home of some 21 million people. Mozambique came out of years of civil war between Renamo and the Government in 1992.
The first multiparty elections were held in 1994. Economic renaissance is occuring in the former Portuguese colony after years of armed conflict settled in de delicate transition the country went through in December of 2004, when former President Joaquim Chissano voluntarily decided not to run in the Presidential election despite the fact that he was entitled for one more five-year term.
The country is in the very bottom of the distribution, standing in position 172 out of 177 in the United Nations' Human Development Index. Per-capita income stands at $1,242 in 2005 PPP terms according to the United Nations, slighty above Madagascar's $923 and well below Angola's $2,335. The country is an average performer in transparency compared to its Subsaharan African peers, and ranks 36 out of 48 countries in Subsaharan Africa in good governance according to the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, just below Madagascar.
Harvard Professor Robert I. Rotberg writes about Africa's Successes in a 2007 piece. In particular he focuses on seven countries in the southern cone of Africa, including Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.
According to Rotberg the Renamo-Frelimo war devastated Mozambique that had to start building the country from scratch after 1997. Rotberg talks about Mozambique's unquestioned success on the economic, political, social and developmental fronts. After 2005 President Armando Guebuza has resurrected corruption, so common among its predecessors prior to 1997. Mozambique's bans on private land ownership stops its farmers from using their property as collateral in a loan that would allow them to finance basic inputs. Mozambique's natural resources are allowing the country to experience significant growth. Rotberg points out that the former Portuguese colony has "signed major exploration agreements with foreign companies seeking oil and gas in the Rovuma River basin between the Tanzanian border and the port city of Nacala". Finally Rotbert points out that the country's aluminum mines, offshore natural gas, and hydroelectric power, representing up to 70 percent of exports, are "the big earner and the major driver of Mozambique's economic renaissance."
Mozambique's prosperity is linked to the development of two strategic sectors: tourism and agriculture. During the week I will brief on the conclusions derived from the interviews.
Find more about Jaime Pozuelo-Monfort at http://Monfort.ORG