In a meeting I had with a group of Japanese businesspeople, Carlos Mesquita, Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, spoke about the competitive advantages over other countries in the region, as well as the business opportunities Mozambique offers.

"We favor the private sector because we know what it means for the development of our country. We would like to see more Japanese companies starting or continuing business in our country. I know there are some companies linked to the oil and gas sector, but we want others in cross-cutting areas of our development," said the government official.

Carlos Mesquita also referred to the need to build water retention and management infrastructures, given the fact that the country suffers cyclically from flooding during the rainy season.

"If we look at the geographical position, Mozambique has the sea and the hinterland. So the tendency is for the water to come from upstream and pass through Mozambique towards the sea, so we need to have the infrastructure to retain and manage this water because the water resource is fundamental for development."

Thus, according to the minister, the country needs to build more dams since the current ones can only retain 21% of the average annual water flow. "We have these dams well identified on the map, and they will be used for agricultural irrigation, fish farming, tourism, industry and power generation to cope with the deficit in the region."

Another sector to which the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources referred was roads, which, in addition to meeting internal connection needs, have the advantage of serving the countries of the hinterland, which use the various transport corridors to reach national ports.

In another development, the minister pointed to the area of housing as being attractive to private investment, particularly Japanese investment, given that the majority of the Mozambican population is made up of young people.

"There is a potential market for construction