About 31 years ago, the Mozambique - United States of America (USA) Chamber of Commerce - CCMUSA - was born, the first and oldest cooperation organization in the country. It was a bold plan on the part of Mozambique, which had just come out of the war, but it was necessary. And the purpose was clear: to put the country's potential in the eyes of the world's great powers in order to attract investors and boost exports.

Three decades on, the current president of CCMUSA has no doubt that the purpose has been fulfilled, but he wants more, because for now the challenge is much greater. In an interview with MZNewsOnório Manuel tells us in detail about the camera's trajectory and future ambitions.

Tell us a little about the history of the Mozambique - United States of America Chamber of Commerce - CCMUSA. What is the Chamber's main objective and how has it worked to strengthen trade relations between the two countries?

The Mozambique Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America (CCMUSA) is the first bilateral chamber and the oldest in Mozambique. It was created in 1994 with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations between Mozambique and the United States of America.

At that time, it was understood that it was important for Mozambique to consolidate the newly achieved peace, but also to take its opportunities to the United States of America.

"Bilateral relations between Mozambique and the United States of America are characterized by a two-way dynamic"

Our scope is really bilateral trade relations, it has to do with business opportunities, both for US companies that want to come and invest in Mozambique, and Mozambican companies that want to invest in the United States of America.

Due to the nature and practice of Mozambican companies, the tendency has been to export products to the United States of America rather than merely invest in that country, in other words, to set up in the United States of America.

Bilateral relations between Mozambique and the United States of America are characterized by a two-way dynamic: the establishment of American investments in Mozambique and the export of US products to the Mozambican market and vice versa. The primary objective is to boost commercial exchange and attract foreign direct investment. CCMUSA aims to contribute to development by promoting mutually beneficial economic, social and commercial relations between the business communities of Mozambique and the United States of America.

Mozambique seeks to increase its global visibility, while the United States seeks to consolidate its presence on Mozambican territory, ensuring that both nations remain relevant on the international stage and that the memory of their relations is preserved.

"The products that Mozambique exports to the United States are incipient"

Despite the asymmetry between the two economies - a global power and a country with a developing economy - there is significant potential for deepening and expanding trade and business relations.

It is true that, in terms of the economic position of the two countries, the type of trade is also different. Mozambique, for example, when we analyze its transactions with the United States, we see that they are limited to primary products, commodities, especially minerals and agricultural products. However, we want more, especially value-added products, because that is what will make a difference in the country.

What has been the volume of Mozambican exports and what are the main products that Mozambique currently exports to the US?

We're talking mainly about minerals, such as graphite, which is exported from the district of Balama (Cabo Delgado), from a mine owned by the Syrah Resources group, locally operated by Twigg, and exported to the United States in Louisiana as a raw material for electric car batteries. But we also have exports linked to agricultural products, base metals, and other products that are not necessarily processed.

Therefore, the products that Mozambique exports to the United States, when analyzed in terms of impact, are still considered incipient and of low value. The effort is therefore aimed at boosting this situation.

On the one hand, in addition to exporting unprocessed products, which do not add value to Mozambique, the volume of our exports to the United States is quite small. However, it is equally important that we export products with greater added value.

So what leaves here is raw material, arrives there, is processed and generates more value at the destination. We have to reverse this situation: a figure must be processed locally before it can be exported.

Do you assume that Mozambique has lost out so far?

We don't lose out, because we're not giving, we're selling. What we can say is that the impact of raw exports does not have the expected economic benefit.

The fact is that when we export primary products, we don't generate wealth on national territory. The company that extracts the resource benefits from this export, but it doesn't generate wealth in Mozambican territory because the exported product is processed outside our borders.

If we were able to extract graphite, for example, and do some processing, we would be providing employment for the people of Balama and for Mozambicans in general. These Mozambicans would be able to cope with their social and economic pressures, but also pay tax to the state. This measure would be excellent for broadening the tax base.

And that would be the multiplier effect on the national economy. What happens with our exports when they are raw is the opposite. We take it out of the ground and export it. So it's important to balance it out with a certain level of processing and, of course, generate more positive externalities in the local market.

As you know, we export less than we import. That's why our trade balance is always in deficit. We estimate that our exports average around 7 to 8 billion dollars. So, of the approximately 8 billion dollars that represent our exports in general, and of these, only a little less than 2% goes to the United States.

Over the last five years, the average number of exports to the United States has been 1.4% or 1.3% of total Mozambican exports. This means that Mozambique and the US trade no more than 110 million dollars a year. That's a very small figure. Therefore, we would like to have many more exports to the United States.

What has CCMUSA done to reverse this situation?

We are working to ensure that we have more business for the United States, not just in terms of primary products, we want to increase the export figure. At least not below 5% of total Mozambican exports.

CCMUSA has been in existence for three decades. Do you think the Chamber is responding to the real objectives of its creation? 

Absolutely. We have no doubt that CCMUSA is living up to the expectations of its creation in 1994. It's true that throughout these times we've always had various challenges, but if we go back to the beginning of the Chamber's creation, we probably didn't even export 0.5% to the United States of America.

Even those US investments that we currently have in Mozambique, we didn't have before. So we've had considerable growth, although still below our expectations, but we believe that with the activities we've been carrying out, we're on the right track.

"We are consolidating all the achievements we have had since the creation of CCMUSA"

For example, a year ago, we were in the US, in Texas - Dallas at a US-Africa Summit, where we met with several US investors, with the aim of promoting Mozambique's potential.

Just this year we took part in another United States-Africa Summit in Angola, where we, as the Chamber of Commerce of Mozambique and the United States-Africa, are co-organizers. At these summits, we presented Mozambique's opportunities in various sectors, from industrialization, agriculture, tourism, logistics, energy, the extractive industry and infrastructure, among others.

Now, Mozambique is preparing to take on the biggest project ever in the LNG sector, which will be led by ExxonMobil on behalf of the partners in area 4 of the Rovuma basin, valued at around 30 billion dollars. This will be a turning point in what is the economic context we are describing here, because by bringing Exxon to Mozambique, we will not only be looking at the 30 billion dollars of the project, that is, any figure, depending on what the Final Investment Decision (FID) is, we will be looking at the other companies associated with Exxon, which will generally have to come to Mozambique to provide goods and services to ExxonMobil and partner with local companies. So we're going to make a 360-degree turn when Exxon makes the FID.

But we're not just focusing on Exxon, because Mozambique needs to start diversifying its economy. What we want to do is use ExxonMobil to first generate confidence in American investments in Mozambique.

If there is a giant like Exxon that is in Mozambique, positioning itself with an investment of 30 billion dollars, it means that other investors will no longer have any doubts that they can trust Mozambique, because this works on the basis of trust.

And Exxon will open doors for us to consolidate confidence in American investments and attract those that will help us not to depend solely on revenues from the extractive sector.

So we are consolidating all the achievements we have had since the creation of CCMUSA, but also working to prepare for the future, which will be very prosperous.

How are the new trade tariffs imposed by the United States affecting Mozambican companies seeking to export their products to the American market?

The tariffs that the new US government is applying, which are around 15%, are basically not as bad as other countries. And their impact on Mozambique's economy will be quite small, because we trade very little.

"The actual impact of the new US trade tariffs is very minimal and it's not like other countries"

So, yes, we would like the tariffs to be lower, because the effort we are making to get more Mozambicans to export to the United States could be jeopardized, because at the end of the day, we now trade very little, but we don't want to settle for these transactions.

This tariff could discourage exports in the future. But the actual impact is very minimal and it's not like other countries that trade billions and billions with the United States.

This directly affects the prospects of producers, exporters and the economy in general. And this is not the case in our country. I think that, to be realistic, we can't worry so much, but rather we have to create economic diplomacy with this country, which is a powerhouse, so that a mechanism can be found to make it possible to set tariffs at zero, or lower, so that Mozambique's export potential to the United States doesn't encounter these tariff barriers in the future.

This, of course, can reduce the competitiveness of Mozambican products when they are in the United States.

Are we assuming that there will be an impact, albeit a small one?

Yes, much reduced, because let's just look at the products I mentioned here, which are exported to the United States, graphite itself, naturally, they will have to pay that tax which they didn't pay before.

So it's an impact for this company in Palma. The beans that we export to the United States, the chestnuts, the chestnut kernels, among many other products, will naturally mean that they will have to pay this tax in the United States. They didn't before.

"Mozambique needs to start preparing for the future"

So yes, there is an impact, but if we measure the degree of the impact, we can see that it is very small in the food economy. Yes, it may have an impact on companies, but it won't be noticeable in the economy. It's so little.

What has happened is more "copy and paste" of the others who are suffering from these tariffs. For countries that are overly dependent on exports to the United States, there will indeed be a devastating knock-on effect. It's a multiplier effect in those countries, but in our case, it's not so much.

But even so, doesn't there need to be some negotiation, as is the case with other countries? 

Well, in fact, there is a need to negotiate. Mozambique needs to start preparing for the future. All these diplomatic issues are often not short or medium term, they are long term.

The question is about the future, it's about believing that in the future bilateral trade between the two countries will increase. So, from that perspective, naturally Mozambique has to negotiate. I believe that Mozambique is already doing this, as the saying goes: "never be an enemy of the United States, but also be a friend, with caution".

So the issue that doesn't concern us today may concern us tomorrow, and there will indeed be a lot of business. What I'm arguing is that negotiations should take place, but focused on future relations.

The US is a country that we always have to be aware is worth having on our side, which is why I advocate economic diplomacy.

Mozambique needs to have harmony with everyone, including the US, to ensure that it has good diplomatic relations, because the global context demands that there be good diplomatic relations. So there is no doubt that negotiations with the United States to reduce this kind of impact are useful.

And on the Chamber's side, are there any specific negotiations at the moment with the US government or other international entities to minimize the effects of these tariffs? If so, which ones?

No, not directly, because we believe that the Chamber of Commerce's scope of action does not interfere with the diplomatic relations of the two countries. What we are doing is indirectly, through the government itself. When the new government was elected, we had a meeting with the Minister of Economy, where we raised some of these concerns, so that the government itself would understand the need.

Firstly, to look at the current statistics and the need to maintain a healthy diplomatic trade relationship with the United States, but we also had other meetings with the Secretary of State of Maputo City himself. And we think that through the government, this is how we can best position ourselves, from the point of view of maintaining what is our focus, which is more the bilateral relationship with and business in the United States.

But we also had an audience at the US Embassy in Mozambique, and we talked about this issue too. Our action is limited to these actors, in the sense of presenting the feelings of the private sector regarding the tariff situation.

We also have other concerns: visas with the United States have been very difficult. It doesn't make sense for Mozambique to have such a short visa with the United States.

So there are diplomatic discussions that need to take place in both countries, not in the context of trade tariffs, but visas, because this is important for tourism. Mozambique has quite a lot of potential in tourism and investors often come to Mozambique for tourism.

Amid the new tariffs, what opportunities might arise for Mozambique, especially in terms of encouraging local production and diversifying markets?

Unfortunately, we're always using the same rhetoric: the solutions don't come, but Mozambique needs to find its own solutions, above all industrial self-sustainability, because as long as we don't have a strong industry, for example, in the context of graphite, we export all the graphite because we don't have a strong industrial base that could take the graphite, process it and make the batteries.

We import all the batteries for vehicles, but we have raw materials - graphite is also used to produce other products. So, when you restrict the export of coolant products, maybe it's a strategic way that we could use to take this graphite and produce the products that derive from it here, locally.

It's graphite, but it can be heavy sands, which produces zircon, titanium for us to produce paints, for the construction sector, among various other electronic devices that use this type of product. So I think there's always an opportunity in the midst of a challenge, it's up to us as a nation to identify what opportunities, what lessons we can learn because it's often said that we're going to be friends with everyone, in diplomatic terms, but at the end of the day, no one is a friend for the sake of it, it's friendship for the sake of it.

Countries don't do charity for each other, they exchange interests. So Mozambique has to stick to what its development strategy is, bet on the areas that will have the most impact and focus on what will develop this country and, above all, the country's industrialization component.

On the Chamber's side, what actions do you have in mind to shape and promote bilateral trade and strengthen Mozambique's economy in the face of these tariff changes? 

We have several actions. One of the most important is the annual trade fair or conference in the United States-Africa. That's where we take several Mozambican businesspeople to meet with US businesspeople, including members of the US government.

And there, we have a privileged stage to present all our potential, our main message is to attract US investment. So that's the highlight. But during the interval between conferences, we have an office for the representative who is in the United States. We opened this office to make it easier for any investor who wants to find out about Mozambique through diplomatic channels to have direct access to Mozambique through our representative from the US company that is in the United States. This is a platform that, of course, we need to publicize more so that it is known.

"What will lift Mozambique out of its current poverty are the actions it will have to take"

On the other hand, we have the Moz Business magazine, a quarterly magazine from the Chamber, which promotes all our potential and serves as a space for our members to disseminate relevant articles on the development of Mozambique. It is also sent to the United States in electronic format. All these tools allow us to make ourselves available to US investors.

Internally, we've had three events where we've invited North American and Mozambican investors to network.

Throughout the year, we have been in contact with US investors who are in Mozambique in order to help them overcome the various bureaucratic obstacles in the country. The idea is to help investors prosper while they are in Mozambique.

So we invest more time in what we call after-care. We attract investors and, when we get to Mozambique, we help overcome barriers that have to do with regulating public companies, since our legal framework is very complex and often not understood. So our focus is on monitoring.

We have a dedicated team within the Chamber to follow up with our members and ensure that everyone is happy.

What will lift Mozambique out of its current poverty are the actions it will have to take to create an environment of facilitation, attractiveness, peace and stability, without terrorism, kidnappings and widespread corruption.