To boost investment in Africa, we need to set 10-20-year-term strategy with clear goals: Mozambique IPA head

CAIRO - 12 June 2021: “We have to set a 10-20-year-term strategy on how investment [status] will look like by that time...that strategy will fulfill the 2063 agenda,” Director General of Mozambique Investment and Export Promotion Agency (APIEX-Mozambique) Lourenco Sambo urged Saturday in IPA Africa Forum 1 to ensure the effectiveness of initiatives launched on that front.

 

Sambo pointed out that integration is about collaboration “and that is not an easy task.”

 

The APIEX-Mozambique director general gave tips on bolstering investment on the continent.

 

“If we want Africa to catch up, we have to change the narrative...We talk about the potential of Africa but we do not really realize the potential of Africa. For instance, we don’t talk about innovation in Africa,” Sambo asserted adding that although it is true that FDI brings in knowledge and technology, Africans have to have their own contribution in industrialization.

 

Another tip put forward by the APIEX-Mozambique director general is identifying the target market to cater to its needs. The main market should be Africa itself, then other markets, he added.

 

The last tip is, “we need to create a middle class in Africa. We need to create consumers in Africa,” Sambo asserted.

 

Nevertheless, the Mozambican official reiterated the necessity of not expanding investment and industrialization at the expense of the environment. “The environment has to be clean,” Sambo underscored.

 

Africa IPAs Forum 1 kicked off in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh having as slogan “Growth for Integration.” The forum is the first of its kind and is taking place on June 11-14 with the participation of ministers and chairpersons of investment promotion authorities at 34 African countries.