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Tony Addison speaks on extractives industries and development during Mozambican MPs’ visit to Finnish parliament

UNU-WIDER Chief Economist-Deputy Director, Tony Addison, presented on the extractives industries and development during the exchange visit of the 5th Commission of the Parliament of Mozambique to Finland on 14 November 2017.

Addison spoke to the Mozambican delegation on the implications of global market trends in the extractive industries, focussing on Mozambique. He explained how failing to keep a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and the extreme volatility of the market gas price, will accentuate the challenges faced by policy makers worldwide.

Given that the USA is Mozambique’s main competitor for exporting gas — a resource termed by Addison as ‘the energy bridge’ — and provided that the price of this resource becomes weaker as the economies of the world transition to renewable resources, he underlined the importance of investment in education for everyone. In particular, the education of girls in rural areas was noted to be the best option for policy makers for Mozambique to become less dependent on exports of natural resources.

The presentation was part of the programme organized by DEMO Finland for the exchange visit by Mozambican parliamentarians. Representatives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland also attended.