Mozambique and Italy signed this Tuesday, July 5, in Maputo, an agreement of general principles to strengthen bilateral cooperation, as part of a working visit that Italian head of state, Sergio Mattarela, is making to the African country.
“It is a broad working instrument that will allow us to cooperate as two countries,” said the head of state, Filipe Nyusi, speaking to the media moments after receiving his Italian counterpart in the Presidency of the Republic in Maputo.
The agreement, called the Multi-Year Indicative Plan, will cover the period between 2022 and 2026, with the emphasis on strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the fields of energy, agriculture and industry, as well as culture.
“It is an agreement for the development of Mozambique,” stressed the Mozambican head of state.
Nyusi highlighted the importance of Italy for the pacification of the country, recalling Rome’s role in achieving the historic General Peace Agreement between then Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano and the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Afonso Dhlakama, signed in the Italian capital in 1992.
“We are glad that this visit takes place at a time when we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Rome General Agreement,” stressed the President of the Republic, adding that Italy has continued to play an important role in achieving the Maputo Agreement for Peace and National Reconciliation, signed by Filipe Nyusi himself and the current Renamo leader, Ossufo Momade.
Sergio Mattarela is the first Italian head of state to make an official visit to Mozambique.
The visit comes at a time when the Italian oil company Eni is leading the start of natural gas exploration in the Rovuma basin, through a floating platform stationed about 40 kilometers off Cabo Delgado.
The reserves are among the largest in the world and the only reason there are not yet more projects to exploit them is because of the armed insurgency in the north of the country, which has halted work on land.
In the case of the offshore platform, gas has already started to be pumped for liquefaction and export to start in the coming months.
Italy was in 2020, the date of the latest official statistics, the main destination of Mozambique’s exports to the European Union (EU), consisting mainly of aluminum.
On the other side of the scale, Italy was the second EU country (after Portugal) in the list of imports, supplying Mozambique mainly with chemical products and metal parts for infrastructure.
Mattarela’s visit comes three years after Nyusi visited Italy.
Source: https://360mozambique.com/development/mozambique
