Last August 25th, in the presence of the President of Mozambique, Armando Emilio Guebuza, and the Italian Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Carlo Calenda, was inaugurated the 50th edition of the Multi-Sector Entrepreneurship Fair (FACIM),which will end on August 31st 2014.

ICE –  the agency for the promotion abroad and the internationalization of Italian firms – has set in Maputo the Italian Pavilion, which houses more than 90 Italian companies and has offered the Community of Sant’Egidio an exhibition space.

In that space, the DREAM Program which started in Mozambique in 2002, for the cure of AIDS, as well as the BRAVO Program that aims to promote birth registration, were presented.

The DREAM Program started in Mozambique, a country chosen for its long  friendship that binds it to the Community of Sant’Egidio and that led to the General Agreement of peace, signed in Rome in 1992. Thanks to Peace, today  Mozambique reached one of the highest rates of GDP growth among African countries and it is estimated that in the period 2014-2017 the average annual growth rate will be of 7.9%, also considering investments in both infrastructure and energy sectors.

The large presence of Italian companies in this exhibition follow entrepreneurial missions in Mozambique organized by the Ministry of Economic Development and the recent official visit of the President of the Italian Council Matteo Renzi, missions that have included an important  step in the Centre “para a Criança” in Maputo, an example of Italian excellence in cooperation.

Many of the entrepreneurs who participated in the Fair visited the Dream centers and appreciated the important work of social and health care that the Community of Sant’Egidio carries out in the country, expressing the desire to support the program with a number of initiatives.