Moz-SA BNC: Transport cooperation, 60-day visa waiver, iron & steel and the gas pipeline

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Moz-SA BNC: Transport cooperation, 60-day visa waiver, iron & steel and the gas pipeline

9:29 CAT | 25 Aug 2017

Mozambique and South Africa will cooperate in the field of transport under two agreements signed on Friday, at the end of a visit to Maputo by South African President Jacob Zuma, which coincided with the second meeting of the Bi-national Commission between the two countries.

The agreements were signed by Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi, one with his South African counterpart, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, and one with the South African Transport Minister, Joe Maswanganyi. No details of the two agreements were announced.

Iron and steel project, the pipeline, EDM & Eskom

Speaking at a lunch offered in honour of Zuma, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said he was convinced that the decision of the Bi-national Commission will contribute to the effective implementation of the economic agreements reached between the two countries.

By way of examples, he cited the technical mission looking into the iron and steel project to be implemented in the western Mozambican province of Tete, the viability study for a gas pipeline running from the gas fields in northern Mozambique to South Africa, and the framework agreement for cooperation between the Mozambican and South African electricity companies, EDM and Eskom.

Visa waiver extension: from 30 to 60 days

He also mentioned the reaffirmation and delimitation of the maritime frontier between the two countries, their memorandum of understanding on higher education, and the agreement to extend the visa waiver period for visits of citizens of one of the countries to the other from 30 to 60 days.

“Your working visit once again creates space so that, at the highest level, we can remove obstacles that prevent us from achieving our goals”, Nyusi told Zuma.

Also Read: South Africa, Mozambique disagree over visa waiver – AIM

He repeated his invitation for South Africa to take part in anchor projects for the development of Mozambique, including electricity generation and transmission, transport and communications, agro-processing, mining, and tourism.

Nyusi said the government has been putting into effect measures to resume high rates of economic growth and to normalise relations with its international cooperation partners. Those relations suffered a major setback, when the full extent of the loans to security related companies, illegally guaranteed by the previous government, under President Armando Guebuza, became public knowledge in April 2016. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) suspended its programme with Mozambique, and all 14 donors who used to provide direct support to the Mozambican state budget interrupted their disbursements.