Maputo, July 8, 2026 (Lusa) - Mozambique's president said on Wednesday that the next 25 years should be used to consolidate the country’s economic independence, advocating transforming natural resources into prosperity, reducing inequalities, and building a more inclusive form of development.
“It is now up to our generation to write a new chapter in this history, to make the next 25 years a time for building our economic independence and consolidating a Mozambique that is increasingly developed, competitive and inclusive,” Daniel Chapo said at the opening in Maputo of the International Conference on Inclusive and Sustainable Development in Mozambique.
Under the motto “From Review to Action – Towards the Country’s Integrated Development”, the initiative aims to assess the country's development trajectory from 2000 to 2025 and to build consensus on strategies for the coming decades.
“We have gathered not merely to revisit our history, but we are here to draw from it the lessons and insights that will enable us to build a sustainable Mozambique for all Mozambicans,” he said.
Focusing his speech on the vision for the next 25 years, Chapo said that the country should take advantage of the conclusion of the Agenda 2025 cycle to design a new development model.
According to the president, the conference coincides with a particularly important moment for Mozambique, marked by the definition of new strategic instruments and the search for national consensus on the future: “Development does not happen by chance. Development is built on vision and strong, credible institutions, with consistent policies.”
Chapo noted that, despite the progress made since 2000, Mozambique continues to face structural challenges that limit the scope of economic growth, such as persistent poverty, social and regional inequalities, difficulties with industrialisation, low productivity, and insufficient opportunities for young people and women.
“The truth is that we have grown, and now we aim to transform that growth into productivity and prosperity for the Mozambican people,” he acknowledged.
One of the priorities of the next development cycle, he said, was to reduce “economic duality”, bringing the benefits of major investments closer to the reality experienced by the majority of the population.
“One of the major tasks of this new cycle of governance is precisely to narrow the gap between the modern extractive economy, which is growing, driven by major investments, and the domestic economy, which remains largely unproductive, where the majority of Mozambicans live and work,” he stated.
He argued that large-scale investments, including those in the natural gas sector, should also boost agriculture, industry, tourism, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
“Our challenge is to ensure that the dynamism of major projects also boosts commercial agriculture, domestic industry, tourism, small and medium-sized enterprises and job creation across the whole country,” he said.
In setting out the vision for 2050, Daniel Chapo maintained that the country’s future depends on more than the exploitation of natural resources, despite the potential of gas, minerals, agriculture, and marine resources.
“An abundance of resources alone does not bring about development. The challenge facing our generation is to transform natural wealth into national wealth and economic growth into inclusive and sustainable development,” he stated.
He identified the diversification of the economy, the promotion of local content, the modernisation of public administration, the digitisation of government services, and the promotion of ethical conduct as key areas for the coming years, recognising that development also requires more efficient institutions closer to the people.
“Truly inclusive development requires institutions that are close to the people, and citizens of integrity, willing to serve rather than to serve themselves,” he said.
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