Portugal leads the EU with Mozambican origins – Observer
Portugal as authorities in the European Union Businesses from the European Forum (EU), despite the general collapse of this pandemic from which the two forums will try to recover with the summit in Maputo.
A third of everything Mozambique buys from the EU comes from Portugal, according to 2020 data from the Mozambican National Institute of Statistics (INE), the most recent available.
Medicines, diagnostic and laboratory reagents, wheat, rye and building materials are the main Portuguese products to arrive on the Indian coast, totaling around 230 million euros in 2020.
Conversely, more than half of what Portugal buys from Mozambique is seafood, with a total of 22 million euros in 2020, sixth among EU countries of destination for Mozambican exports.
The previous summit between the two countries was in 2019 and at the time the Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, defended the strengthening of economic relations with Portugal.
He asked for training and investment in the transformation of the country’s raw materials, for valorization.
At the same time, António Carlos Silva, administrator of the Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade of Portugal (AICEP), said that economic relations between Portugal and Mozambique were below potential.
It was a “challenge”, but it remained to be faced, because in the meantime almost everything stopped, to face Covid-19.
The Portuguese government delegation led by the Prime Minister, António Costa, will be this Thursday and Friday in a Portuguese-speaking country where, before the pandemic, there were about 600 Portuguese companies, mainly small and medium-sized – the country with the most Portuguese firms, after from Angola.
The two main Mozambican banks, Millennium and BCI, are owned by Portuguese banking and other major brands have notoriety in fuels, hotels and construction, among other sectors.
Mozambique continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world, where much of the expectations for those doing business remain in the hope of advancing natural gas exploration.
But armed attacks in the north have forced investors to postpone major projects.
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Still, in the midst of uncertainty, as prospects are for economic growth in Mozambique.
In the most recent analysis of the country, published on Friday, the non-financial agency Fitch rose from Evaluation of CCC+, forecasting that the growth of Gross Domestic Product “at 7.2027% of Mozambique CCC+ to high B6 in 2024”.
Prime Minister António Costa and Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi lead delegations to the V Mozambique-Portugal Summit, scheduled for this Thursday, in Maputo.
The business forum between the two countries will take place on Friday, during the Maputo International Fair (Facim), the main event for economic activities in the country, also with the presence of Nyusi and Costa.