Italy / Mozambique: updated investment handbook

MAPUTO, Mozambique, November 18, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Mozambique”, in collaboration with the state budget support programme funded by the Cooperation, the Embassy of Italy has published its second edition. Apart from its more refined graphics, the second edition maintains the operational approach of the first and has been enriched with a paragraph on Mozambique and the status of economic-commercial relations with Italy, an update on laws approved over the past year, an analysis of labour law and a conclusion containing the direct experiences of some Italian businesses operating in the country. As with the first edition, the 2011 version will also be available on the Embassy's website.

Completion of the handbook coincides with the arrival in Maputo of various Italian businesses intending to explore the Mozambican market (many of which were planned following the MISE mission). Ambassador Lo Cascio received representatives of SAIPEM, the Maccaferri groups, Tenaris and SFIR, and a group of energy firms led by GSE and represented by Director Tomada. The Embassy provided for the arrangement of both institutional and business meetings between these groups and other Mozambican and Italian firms working in the same sectors. Moreover, SAIPEM, Tenaris and Maccaferri plan to open offices in Maputo in the near future. Italian firms' growing interest in a very promising Mozambique (this year's GDP has grown over 7%, which should go up to 8% next year) was further strengthened by ENI's recent discovery of an enormous gas deposit, which will bring investments of €60 billion over the coming years and generate substantial revenues.

Indeed, this important discovery falls within an especially positive context of economic and commercial relations between Italy and Mozambique, seen also in steadily increasing trade figures. According to ICE data, following the recent boom (Italian sales to Mozambique have nearly tripled over the past 3 years), the first 5 months of 2011 registered a 13.1% growth in our exports (from €12.2 to 13.9 million) and 45.8% in our imports (from €106.5 to 159.3 million) compared with the same period in 2010, in confirmation of a positive trend that should lead to increasingly significant results.