Mozambique: Portuguese ambassador calls for deeper trade ties

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Mozambique: Portuguese ambassador calls for deeper trade ties

6:25 CAT | 25 Jun 2025

Photo: Presidency

The Portuguese ambassador to Mozambique, António Costa Moura, said on Tuesday that cooperation relations between the two countries “are very good and commendable,” and called for deeper economic and trade cooperation.

‘In terms of strictly economic and commercial cooperation, we can deepen our ties. Mozambique can raise its profile in Portugal’s trade balance, and Portugal can and should raise its profile in Mozambique’s trade balance, but bear in mind that Portugal remains one of the 10 largest investors in Mozambique globally and will continue to be so,’ said Ambassador António Costa Moura.

Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo, received the diplomat on Tuesday as he completes his mission in the country, and said that economic and trade ties “are the cornerstone” of relations between the two countries, noting the presence of 400 Portuguese companies and cooperation in the areas of security, education and health.

“Bilateral cooperation relations are very good, and we recommend them. We have the great advantage of existing at this moment (…) in perfect harmony with political cycles,” said the Portuguese ambassador, pointing to the fact that both countries have new governments.

“We have all the conditions to, within a time frame of four to five years, deepen, work seriously and go further in the mission that drives us, Portuguese and Mozambicans, always with the ultimate goal of serving our peoples,” he added.

António Costa Moura predicts a “great future” for Mozambique, with a predominantly young population that, he pointed out, has a command of science, technology and the arts, areas considered essential for development and economic growth.

“I firmly believe that the business environment has improved in Mozambique, and I believe that it will continue to improve because Mozambique’s openness to the outside world is essential for it to assert itself as a democracy with a market economy, both in the Southern African region and globally,” the ambassador concluded.

Ambassador António Costa Moura emphasised, at the ceremonies on 10 June, before members of the Portuguese community and Mozambican guests, the “relationship of friendship and cooperation between sovereign, free and equal countries”, translated into bilateral cooperation agreements in various areas, from health to training, defence, security, culture and education.

“In the last 30 years, around 10,000 young Mozambicans have attended higher education in Portugal, with an exponential increase in the last decade, a sign that the ties between the two countries are being renewed from generation to generation,” said the diplomat, also highlighting the support for technical and vocational education in Mozambique: ‘Between 2001 and 2018, more than 1,700 educational agents, teachers and directors of vocational schools benefited from this support, and more than 60,000 students graduated.’

The diplomat recalled that the two countries signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement in the Military Field in 1988 and that since then 1,200 Portuguese military personnel have served in Mozambique and 590 Mozambican military personnel have been trained in Portugal.

Source: Lusa