Incorporating the tools provided by intellectual property can make it possible to realize the value
of the country’s vast natural potential, to add value to it and to generate the wealth necessary to
provide for the wellbeing of its glorious people.
Concrete reality shows that, at present, the economic system, as a whole, has been trying to
achieve results and to assert itself in the marketplace without using the intellectual property
system. The results are obvious: poor productivity, scant value attached to products and services,
absolute dependence on natural factors and on traditional factors of production.
In a knowledge society, traditional factors of production consisting essentially of tangibles –
capital, machinery and manpower – no longer have the same importance as before. In a
knowledge society, progress and the generation of wealth depend on and consist of intangibles –
in other words, intellectual property rights. The use of some industrial property rights, such as
certification marks, appellations of origin and geographical indications, can add value to
competitive Mozambican products such as shrimp, some varieties of sea, river and lake fish,
cashew nuts, pineapple, coconut, tobacco, crafts, gourmet products, etc.
The use of certification marks, appellations of origin and geographical indications for certain
products with distinctive characteristics will make it possible to add value to them, to conquer
markets and, consequently, to give a greater financial return to the communities involved in
producing them. Increasing wealth in the areas of production of these products will help stabilize
the population there, create job opportunities, reduce poverty and raise the living standards of the
people there. In this context it will be necessary for each district, as a development hub, to try
and identify products whose value may be increased through intellectual property rights and to
create the conditions for promoting them.
Finally, recognizing and safeguarding intellectual property rights will attract foreign investment
to Mozambique and keep it here. Technology transfer, research and innovation, and,
consequently, the establishment of innovative foreign knowledge-based enterprises will be
possible only if we have laid down the conditions for safeguarding their creations, and the rights
arising from them.