Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan asks Mozambique for support in achieving peace
Meeting between Gerd Müller and Adriano Maleiane. Photo: DW
During his visit to Mozambique, German Minister for Economic Cooperation Gerd Müller and Development pledged Germany’s support in the implementation of the peace process and encouraged the fight against corruption. Agriculture will be the focus of German investment.
Gerd Müller, the German Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation said on Sunday in Maputo that the key to the development and future of Mozambique was peace, and tolerance among all groups in the country.
Muller, who was on a two-day visit to Mozambique beginning Saturday (25.08), said that “the implementation of the entire peace process requires both the government and the largest opposition party, Renamo, to take steps towards each other”.
The minister also said it was important that Renamo and other political parties have the opportunity to present and publicise their positions.
Germany “has high expectations for the implementation of peace,” Müller told reporters.
The minister pledged his country’s support in implementing the peace agreement recently signed between the government and Renamo, which provides for the demilitarisation, disarmament, and integration of the Mozambican National Resistance’s remaining armed men.
Separate meetings
The implementation of this agreement was the central theme of a meeting that the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development held this Sunday with the head of the parliamentary bench of the Mozambican National Resistance, Ivone Soares.
Gerd Müller also addressed the peace process with the Archbishop of Beira, Dom Cláudio Dalla Zuanna.
One of the highlights of Muller’s visit to Mozambique was the meeting held with Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane.
The German government has encouraged the Mozambican government to continue fighting corruption and to implement the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“This is the only way to recover investor confidence in the country,” he said.
Gerd Müller said that the focus of Germany’s support to Mozambique over the next two years would be agriculture and energy programmes for the most deprived rural areas.
“Mozambican soil is productive and we have the basic conditions to increase agricultural production and productivity. In this way, we believe that we can help combat poverty,” the German minister said.
Another sector that would continue to see strong Germany support from is technical and vocational training.
Müller stressed that Germany also wanted to cooperate with the government in ensuring that the results of the exploitation of natural resources benefit the populations and the state budget.
Mozambican Minister of Economy and Finance Adriano Maleiane said that his meeting with Minister Müller served to take stock of the cooperation between the two countries and to prepare for the next bilateral meeting scheduled for October in Berlin.
Future of cooperation
The October meeting will approve Germany’s financing for Mozambique over the next two years.
“The 2016 cooperation programme, which ends this year, amounted to EUR 89.5 million. We have asked the German government to look into the possibility of increasing this figure and also looking at the 2019 general elections, because they will be of a new type. We have recently approved new electoral laws which require additional expense, and our state budget will need support,” Minister Maleiane said.
Maleiane noted that Mozambique had “very good” cooperation with Germany in several areas, pointing out that Germany was, for example, the country’s second-largest contributor to education.
The agenda of the German Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation included a trip to the city of Beira, where he visited the DREAM Centre in the community of Sant’Egidio, a facility that has benefited from German support for more than 15 years.
Minister Müller also inspected coastal rehabilitation in the city, a project it supports through the German Development Bank (KFW).
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