Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Maria Lucas, says that Mozambique is ready to accept Chinese investment and raise trade exchanges to higher levels, within the scope of the China-Africa 10 Partnership Initiative.
The initiative was first announced by the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, during the 4th Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), in 2024.
The Chinese authorities highlighted mutual learning between civilizations, trade prosperity, cooperation in the productive value chain for industrialization, connectivity, development of cooperation, health, agriculture and welfare, exchanges between peoples, green development and common security, as the ten partnership actions that aim to modernise and deepen China’s cooperation with Africa in the following three years.
Maria Lucas outlined this posture on Wednesday, June 11, in the city of Changsha, capital of Hunan province, during the Ministerial Conference of Coordinators for the Implementation of the Outcomes of the 4th Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)
Lucas welcomes zero-tariff access
The Mozambican Minister of Foreign Affairs recalled that China has become the largest trading partner of Africa and Mozambique.
Lucas welcomed the adoption of the Chinese policy of zero tariffs on products from the African continent and the announcement by President Xi Jinping about the provision of more than US$50 billion for the implementation of the ten actions under the Ten Partnerships Initiative.
“Mozambique welcomes and praises this promising initiative, but for it to be viable and successful in our countries, in Mozambique in particular, there are challenges that must be resolved, including the flexibility of the mechanisms for preparing and submitting projects and disbursing funds,” said the minister.
“In this context, I reiterate the fundamental importance of training our countries, through technical assistance, on how to prepare projects in accordance with the criteria and standards required by the Chinese authorities,” she added. “We believe that this would help to make the process faster and more effective.”
The minister highlighted the efforts being made to improve the business environment favourable to public and private investments for the development of Africa and Mozambique, emphasizing that “Mozambique is working to ensure greater political stability to attract foreign direct investment, particularly from Chinese entrepreneurs.”
The Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Hi, defined the 21st century as the African century, while the African ministers who spoke were unanimous in rating FOCAC an important platform in Sino-African relations, especially in the context of the crises caused by the current and complex international political situation.
In this context, Minister Lucas said that the world faces global challenges, accentuated by trade tensions and uncertainties in the international political system.
“Within the framework of the China-Africa Forum, we advocate a fairer, more inclusive, participatory and multipolar world, unconditionally reaffirming Mozambique’s support and commitment to multilateralism anchored in the United Nations Charter and to trade mechanisms based on the principles and objectives of the World Trade Organization,” she confirmed.
The Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of FOCAC Follow-up Actions was attended by 53 African foreign ministers and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, and other officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China.
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