[2019-08-28] Mozambique is well-placed to reap rewards from the Belt and Road initiative

Source: Macauhub

Mozambique’s strategic location allows it to reap rewards by importing products from China and exporting goods from neighbouring landlocked countries, a panel from Eduardo Mondlane University said on Monday in Beijing.

Joao Mavimbe, the coordinator of the University’s Belt and Road Initiative Scientific Research Centre, was speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the eighth China-Africa Think Tanks Forum, a two-day event taking place in the Chinese capital.

“We can serve as a route for the landlocked countries, and can channel products to this area as well as to China, because we are strategically located,” he said, quoted by the AIM news agency.

Mavimbe also said that he believes that the construction of the airport in Xai-Xai, in the southern province of Gaza, in Mozambique, will be an asset under the Belt and Road initiative, as it will facilitate the movement of Chinese businesspeople to that province.

The coordinator of the research centre, who is also a university lecturer, added that Mozambique is one of the strategically located countries that can serve as a reference in the Southern African region.

The Council of Ministers appointed Eduardo Mondlane University as the Centre for Scientific Research of the Belt and Road Initiative through a decree approved in 2018.

In April the capital of China hosted the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, from 25 to 27 April, which brought together a total of 153 countries and international organisations.