The reactions of local businessmen to the launch by CARLOS MESQUITA (CM), Minister of Industry and Commerce, of the “Plano Nacional Industrializar Moçambique” (PRONAIMO) are cautious, given the existence of a myriad of programs and agencies with the same purposes and as a rule, with very modest results. The plan is based on several general principles such as the modernization of the productive sector and the attraction of investments.
CM's initiative is seen as an “overlap” with other initiatives initiated by his government colleague CELSO CORREIA (CC), Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and PR FILIPE NYUSI's right-hand man. In a government considered weak by internal and external observers, CC has been accumulating competences, standing out from many of his colleagues for political marketing and controlling a significant budget, through the tutelage of a set of significant financial instruments.
CM´s announcement has, according to consulted sources, an essentially political aim. CM is a member of the “core” that supports FN in government, alongside CC, JOÃO MACHATINE and MAX TONELA. CM's media offensives also aim, according to consulted sources, to make him less dependent on FN and to dissociate him from CC, ensuring a political future, aside from business, in the post-FN period. READ MORE