Cooperation with Austria: Trade balance favourable to Mozambique

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Cooperation with Austria: Trade balance favourable to Mozambique

2:56 CAT | 21 Mar 2017

Last year, Mozambique had a positive balance in trade with Austria, having sold goods worth about EUR 11 million to the country, against imports worth EUR 3.5 million.

So announced yesterday Ambassador Brigitte Oppinger-Walchshofer after bidding farewell to President Filipe Nyusi at the end of her four year mission in Mozambique.

“Our biggest goal is to increase our trade, because we believe it can be definitely increased,” she said.

Trade aside, the ambassador expressed satisfaction at the restoration of peace in the country after a period of instability.

“There is peace. It is always good that there is peace. I get the impression that people are starting to relax a bit,” she said.

The country has been relatively stable since the announcement by Renamo last year of a truce, renewed until May, in the framework of the dialogue between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.

Ambassador Walchshofer said she and the president had addressed bilateral relations over the last four years, including Austria’s support for the agriculture and water sectors in Sofala province.

Walchshofer pointed out the symmetry in the last four years of mutual business investments, two for Mozambican entrepreneurs in Austria and two for Austrian entrepreneurs in Mozambique, and signs, she said, of interest among Austrian entrepreneurs in increasing trade with Mozambique.

Two other ambassadors also bade farewell to the Mozambican head of state yesterday: the Swedish ambassador Irina Nyoni and the Ambassador of Japan, Akira Mizutani.

Swedish ambassador Irina Nyoni was also received by president Nyusi

The Swedish ambassador said that she was departing with a feeling of having left things on track after two and a half years in the country.

“In terms of cooperation, we are in a good environment. We have very good, frank and open dialogue with Mozambique. I think there are many positive things that are happening. We would like to focus on the challenges that the country faces. The Swedish government has been a good partner for Mozambique,” she said.

Sweden has focused on gender equality, in particular in the areas of early marriage, women’s rights, the peace process and the environment.

As for the Japanese ambassador, Akira Mizutani said that during his mission he visited all the provinces of Mozambique to maximize bilateral cooperation.

“In three years, I have created two mechanisms for dialogue between our two countries, one for policy and another for business dialogue,” he said. Bilateral relations between Japan and Mozambique had deepened.

“I am very happy with the state of relations between our countries,” Mizutani said.

Source: Noticias