Signing of MOU key milestone in SA-Mozambique Relations – Minister Davies |
| The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies has described the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Economic Cooperation between South Africa and Mozambique as a key milestone. Davies was speaking at a brief signing ceremony which took place in Cape Town today. Mozambique’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Ragendra Berta de Sousa signed on behalf of his country.
The objective of this MoU is to provide a broad basis for cooperation between South Africa and Mozambique with the intention to find new approaches and strategies of consolidating, expanding and deepening areas of economic development, investment promotion, industrial, trade and technical cooperation. “The signing of this MoU is a key milestone in our bilateral relations and cooperation for a number of reasons: it is a new generation type of an agreement that is based on a couple of new departures. The first one is that it is very much detailed about the level of cooperation and specifically identifies a number of infrastructure projects that we will be collaborating on. Secondly, it is time-bound as it will last for only five years after which it can be renewed,” said Davies He added that the MoU also fits in perfectly with the vision of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) that is characterised by the investment-led trade into the rest of Africa. A unit, Trade Invest Africa, was established in the department to drive this initiative. “Mozambique is a very significant trading partner for South Africa and we have a sizeable surplus with the country. We do not think that we are serving our relationship well just by practising the traditional way of doing trade, but by building investment relations we are creating the basis for a more equitable and more balanced pattern of trade in line with our approach of positioning South Africa as a development partner on the continent. That is the basis on which we cement the whole of our sustainable and long-term trade and economic relations throughout the continent,” added Davies. De Soussa said the MoU would go a long way in strengthening economic relations between SA and Mozambique and contributing in increasing collaboration, partnerships, trade and investment between the two countries. The MoU will provide a framework under which developmental projects covering a broad spectrum of sectors can be pursued. These projects will form a basis for deeper cooperation between the two countries. Sectors that will be explored for cooperation under the MoU include agriculture and agro-processing; special economic zones and industrial parks; mining, processing and value-addition of natural resources; transport and communications infrastructure; pharmaceuticals; tourism; clothing and textiles; creative industries; and manufacturing. Total trade between the two countries has remained strong over the past five years, increasing from R39.5 billion in 2013 to R50.8 billion in 2017.
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