Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican President Daniel Chapo, at the end of his working visit to Brussels, declared that the visit opened new opportunities for cooperation,
His contact with European institutions, he added, consolidated the EU as a strategic partner for Mozambican economic and social development.
Chapo said there is a “common understanding” of the need to deepen bilateral relations, making them more dynamic and results-oriented.
“We left Brussels with the firm conviction that we have opened new perspectives for deepening this strategic partnership”, he declared.
The visit came on the eve of the expiry of the agreement whereby the EU pays for part of the cost of the operations of the Rwandan Defence Force in the war against terrorism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
Also coming up for renewal is the agreement on the EU’s military assistance to Mozambique. The mission is led by Portugal and financed by the EU. It ends officially in June.
But, according to Chapo himself, neither the Rwanda deal nor the EU military mission were on his Brussels agenda. He told reporters that so far “I have no official information about the end of these missions”.
“The concept of a mission is that it begins and it ends, and when it has not ended, we continue to work”, he said. Both agreements were within their schedule, and so “we are complying with the period, and we wait for a definition by both sides at the end of the mission”.
Chapo said “we haven’t reached May (when the EU financing for the Rwandan contingent expires) and we haven’t reached June (when the EU military mission ends). So what I can tell you is that both missions are continuing in Mozambique”.
The EU had not told the Mozambican government anything about the impending end of the military mission, he stressed.
Chapo used his visit to Brussels to call for support from EU companies for the Mozambican energy sector and for digitalisation.
Opening a meeting entitled the “Renmoz in Europe Business Forum”, Chapo said Mozambique intends to build “a modern, sustainable and competitive energy sector, capable of driving the economic transformation of our country and contributing to the energy security of the region and the world”.
He claimed this meeting “is sending a powerful message. It is a clear sign of an ambition to transform potential into investment, investment into economic growth and growth into social progress”.
Chapo stressed that Mozambique has abundant energy resources, including “vast hydro-electric resources, enormous solar and wind potential and important reserves of natural gas”. This combination “makes Mozambique a strategic partner for the energy security of southern Africa”.
He stressed that Mozambique is developing an energy system “based on renewable energies” with “responsible valuing of natural gas”, and the “promotion of green industrialisation”.
