The President of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), Esperança Bias, swore in the nine members of the Supervisory Committee (SC) of the Mozambique Sovereign Fund (FSM) yesterday (Tuesday) in Maputo..

It is an independent body that will control revenues from the production of liquefied natural gas from Areas 1 and 4 Offshore in the Rovuma basin, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, including future oil and natural gas development and production projects.

Speaking during the ceremony in which he swore in the Committee, at the headquarters of the AR, Bias called on its members to be professional and to promote ethical values so that the country's natural resources don't become a curse.

"Be guided by professionalism, the promotion of ethical principles and good practices to ensure that resources are not a curse, but a real blessing," said Bias.

In a publication by AIMThe President of Parliament reminded the members of the WSF CS that they have a legal duty to submit a report to the HR every three months.

Meanwhile, after the end of the ceremony, the bishop of the Diocese of Pemba, Dom António Sandramo, who is one of the members, assured that the natural resources that exist on Mozambican soil should benefit all the country's citizens. "It would be a great injustice if those close to these resources did not also benefit," he said.

In addition to Sandramo, social activists Benilde Nhalivilo and Estrela Eduardo, representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs); Inocêncio Paulino, from the business community; academics Emanuel Chaves and Alcides Novela; and lawyer Celestino Sitoe, from the Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) also took office.

The inductees include the auditor Altino Mavile, representing the Order of Accountants and Auditors of Mozambique; and Mussa Suefe, from religious associations of recognized merit and covering the whole of Mozambique.

In addition to overseeing the revenues achieved in the first 15 years of the FS's operation, of which 40% is earmarked for the Fund and 60% for the State Budget, the SC also controls the deposits of revenues in the transitional account.

The Committee will also oversee the return on investment of FS revenues, and the tax base for calculating revenues from the exploitation of petroleum resources, Corporate Income Tax, as well as monitoring the resulting taxation of capital gains, production bonuses and production sharing from profit oil.