[2019-03-13] Portugal participates in the Mozambique Lusophone Compact with guarantees for financing

Source: Macauhub

Portugal is taking part in Mozambique Lusophone Compact 400 million euros in guarantees to be matched by financing from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for development projects in the East African country, according to official information.

The agreement signed on Tuesday in Maputo stipulates that in addition to the host country, which has to be one of the Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP), each project must involve “at least two other entities of the Compact, for example, the AfDB and Portuguese companies or the AfDB and other companies of the PALOP,” the programme’s documentation says.

Mozambican Economy and Finance Minister Adriano Maleiane noted the merit of the initiative by bringing together markets that speak the same language, but are geographically distant, a factor that was also mentioned by Mateus Magala, vice-president of the AfDB, and Teresa Ribeiro, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Portugal, who also attended the ceremony.

Mozambique has 25 indicative projects, presented through the Office for Business Support of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), for areas such as education, tourism, energy, agriculture and infrastructure.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed on Tuesday in Mozambique, is part of the Lusophone Compact signed in November 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa involving the PALOPs and for which 65 projects have been identified.