The government of Mozambique will start preparing projects for submission to the USD10 billion fund for Africa announced by the government of India, the Mozambican prime minister said recently.
At the Third India/Africa Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário said that his government intended focussing the projects on areas of agriculture, water supply and restructuring the post office.
Rosário also said that, in the meetings held with the New Delhi authorities, there was a great deal of interest in strengthening bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector and that an Indian team was expected to arrive in Maputo in the near future.
“I think that the agricultural sector is of great interest to the country. Mozambique cannot only rely on raw materials such as gas and coal, but we also need to have the population itself go through a development process,” he said.
The extractive industry was also the subject of bilateral talks. Rosário realised that India’s interest remained in projects related to gas exploration.
The Indian government pledged a credit line of USD10 billion in addition to USD600 million in aid over the next five years. It also pledged to work with the continent to develop information technologies and reduce the digital divide.
The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, visited India in August this year accompanied by 60 businesspeople. The countries signed two memoranda of understanding in economic affairs and agreed to move on to military cooperation, with particular interest in maritime safety since the two countries have coastlines on the Indian Ocean.
