24 March 2008
Maputo — Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva began a state visit to Mozambique on Monday to launch what he described as "a new cycle" in bilateral relations.
At a joint press conference held after official talks between delegations of the two governments, his Mozambican host, President Armando Guebuza, described Cavaco Silva as "a great friend of Mozambique".
Such friendship, Guebuza added, meant that talks between the two governments could be very open, and it was this climate of openness that had made possible the successful negotiations over transferring a majority stake in the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi from Portugal to Mozambique.
The deal for Mozambique to purchase from Portugal 67 per cent of the shares in the dam operating company, Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), was signed in 2006 between Guebuza and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates.
The financial arrangements were completed last November, with the result that Mozambique now holds an 85 per cent stake in HCB, and a majority on the Board of Directors. The money to purchase the shares (700 million US dollars) was raised from a Franco-Portuguese banking consortium, and will be repaid out of the sales of Cahora Bassa electricity.
Guebuza told Cavaco Silva "the environment is favourable for intensifying our cooperation". Bilateral economic ties should be stepped up "to the benefit of our peoples and our countries"
The Portuguese President stressed the "very strong cultural and historic ties between Portugal and Mozambique", and hoped that his visit could open "a new cycle of cooperation especially in the economic and business spheres".
Both presidents stressed their interest in attracting more Portuguese investment to Mozambique.
Asked about increasing the number of direct flights between the two countries, Guebuza said he was sure that, with increased investment, particularly in tourism, more flights would follow.
When one reporter asked Cavaco Silva whether he would apologise for atrocities committed by the Portuguese colonial army against Mozambique, such as the 1972 massacre at Wiriamu, in Tete province, he declined to "go back to the past", and instead praised Mozambique for achieving "peace, national reconciliation and democracy".
Witnessed by the two presidents, ministers from the two delegations signed four cooperation agreements. One was an amendment to the 1991 agreement on dual taxation, and is aimed at avoiding paying tax in both countries on the same income.
A second concerns mutual recognition of the driving licences issued by the two countries, while a third will upgrade the Maputo Portuguese School. Instead of just teaching children the Portuguese curriculum, the school will now also train Mozambican teachers of the Portuguese language. The final agreement concerned further technical cooperation in the military sphere.
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