Guebuza calls for infrastructure investment in Africa
9 April 2014
APA
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza says investment in transport, communications and energy infrastructures is not just a business opportunity but is a crucial ingredient for peace and security in Africa, APA learns here Friday.
Guebuza is quoted by state-run Radio Mozambique as telling the 4th EU-Africa Summit that ended in Brussels on Thursday that despite significant economic advances made by African countries in the past few years, there was a yawning gap between social and economic infrastructure that had the potential of derailing progress and threatening peace.
He noted that rather than regarding this simply as a constraint, African countries have been able to transform the current deficit in infrastructure into an opportunity to attract direct private investment to complement the efforts made by the public sector.
"The response has been positive, both from national and foreign private investors, when they identify and recognise the potential to do business with a sure return on their investments," said Guebuza.
According to the African Development Bank, the continent invests a paltry four percent of its Gross Domestic Product annually in infrastructure against an ideal figure of around 14 percent.
The African Union has embarked on an ambitious programme to improve its infrastructure and has set up a fund to finance projects identified under its Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).