"The Maputo International Fair (FACIM) is the mirror of Mozambique's economic and cultural diversity" where the potentialities of Mozambique and other countries converge, said, today, in Maputo province, the President of the Republic (PR).

"Facim is the mirror of economic diversity, of our businesses and cultural values. Facim represents a meeting point of four continents, where Mozambique integrates into the globalized world, envisaging a future of shared economic prosperity through trade and investment flows," said Filipe Nyusi, at the official opening ceremony of the Fair.

The PR stressed on the occasion that the commercial objectives intersect with the intention of a sustainable development process. But he also called for a greater engagement of efforts in the diversification of the national economy to counteract "the excessive dependence on the extractive sectors, mineral and hydrocarbon resources.

"We hope that this edition, which takes place in a face-to-face format, will serve to achieve several objectives, including exploring opportunities for the establishment of industrial units in the construction of value chains that follow the route of our resources; the possibility of framing the value chains in the regional context of Southern Africa and the African continent, diversifying the commercial risk, with investments in agriculture, livestock, tourism, logistics service, fisheries, renewable energy, and countering an excessive dependence on the extractive sectors of mineral resources and hydrocarbons," mentioned Nyusi.

"All of this needs to be legislated, and we are addressing it with the utmost urgency," the PR assured.

Next Friday, the President of the Republic will return to Marracuene, in Maputo province, to once again visit the exhibitions, in the company of the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa.