From May 3-5 2006, the Confederation of Mozambican Industries (CTA) convened its ninth Annual Private Sector Conference in Maputo. Opened this year by the President of the Republic of Mozambique, Armando Guebuza, the conference was attended by the Prime Minister, key ministers of the Economic Cabinet, and more than 700 people from the private sector, government, academia and donors, and representatives of Mozambique’s nine provinces.

This year’s theme, Mozambican Business Opportunities in a Global Economy and Business Strategy and Local Economic Development, highlighted the importance of fully integrating into the global economy through trade liberalization, local business environment reform, and increased competitiveness.

CTA’s Executive Director, Sérgio Chitara, noted that the conference “is now recognized as the backbone of dialogue between the private sector and government and serves as a mechanism whereby steps can be taken to improve the business environment, increase production and productivity, identify policy and legislation that is in need of reform and to identify constraints and issues of concern as measured against the objectives of previous the previous years.”

Nathan Associates Inc., through the USAID-funded Trade and Investment Project (TIP), helped make this year’s conference a success. The project provided the two keynote speakers, Steve Radelet and Frank Flatters, and provided substantial funding for simultaneous translation, advertising, reproduction, and participants’ travel. The project also prepared all issue papers for the conference—on everything from tax reform and air liberalization to telecommunications reform and labor law reform—through its support of the CTA. Papers and keynote speeches are available on the project website: http://www.tipmoz.com