30 October 2008
Copenhagen — The Mozambican government is seeking to secure its current position as the second largest recipient of development aid from Denmark.
According to the Mozambican Ambassador to the Nordic countries, Pedro Comissario, the current position is not simply the result of Danish friendship or sympathy, but of hard work that Mozambique has undertaken since the end of the war of destabilisation in 1992, and expressed in the country's high rates of economic growth,
To consolidate relations between the two countries, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza is due to arrive on Thursday in Copenhagen, where he will hold bilateral meetings with the Danish Queen Margrethe II, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Thor Petersen.
In Denmark, Guebuza will explain the efforts and successes achieved by Mozambique in the fight against abject poverty, in the implementation of the Second Phase of the Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA II) and the Government's five-year programme.
"This visit aims to explain the efforts and success that Mozambique has achieved in the fight against poverty and other evils. We also wish to stress that Denmark's support is vitally important for the continuity of the country's development programs," said Comissario.
Guebuza will also hold meetings with Danish business people, who will be invited to invest in Mozambique. He plans to brief them on the country's potential and the current favourable environment for doing business.
The government will also seek to lay the foundations for cooperation in the public transport sector, considering that Denmark has an excellent public transportation system.
Currently, Denmark provides annually 400 million Danish crowns (DKK) (about 80 million dollars) to Mozambique. Of this amount, DKK 60 million are earmarked for direct budget support, with the remaining 340 million DKK shared by other sectors of the economy.
Ties of cooperation and friendship between the two countries date back to the '70s, when the Danish government decided to grant bilateral assistance for Mozambique's development.
But these relations suffered a setback in 2005 after the discovery of misuse of 84 million dollars, granted by the Danish government for the education sector for the period 2002-2006. This forced the Danish government to suspend its aid for education in Mozambique.
Following this incident, the Danish government decided to reduce its direct support for Mozambique's State Budget from 60 million DKK in 2007 to 50 million in 2008.
Initially, Denmark was willing to increase its budget support for 2009, but later reconsidered its decision, maintaining the same level of 50 million DKK. However, following a recent visit to Maputo by Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen, there are signs that this sum could be increased in the next three years.
Today, Mozambique is ranked in the second position, after Tanzania, in a list of 13 countries receiving direct budget support from Denmark.
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