Dar es Salaam — Mozambican Prime Minister, Luisa Diogo, stressed in Dar es Salaam on Thursday the need to strengthen and expand economic bilateral cooperation between Mozambique and Tanzania, suggesting that both countries should work together in key areas where they share common challenges.

Diogo is on a 2-day official visit to Tanzania, at the invitation of her counterpart, Peter Mizengo Pinda.

"We need to work more intensively on exchange of business missions', said Diogo acknowledging that political relations between the two countries are on the right track, but this is not the case with economic and trading relations.

Diogo, who was speaking at the end of a meeting with Pinda, suggested that as a means to overcome the barriers that hinder bilateral cooperation, business people from both countries should work together in seeking solutions for economic and trade challenges.

At the meeting, both leaders discussed issues ranging from bilateral cooperation, the problems faced by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and international challenges.

Briefing reporters on the meeting, Diogo said that in bilateral cooperation, "there are programmes that are on the right track, despite some delays, such as the Unity Bridge (over the Rovuma River that will link both countries by road). Hopefully we expect to inaugurate the bridge next year".

Tourism and agriculture are at the top of the agenda, according to Diogo, due to their importance in the economies of both countries.

"Tourism is one of areas where our countries can adopt common strategies, as business people investing in Mozambique could also invest in Tanzania and vice versa", said Diogo, adding that the launch of joint tourism packages may allow third-country investors to move freely their investments in both countries.

The 2010 football World Cup, to be hosted by South Africa, will also open new opportunities for both Mozambique and Tanzania that could adopt common strategies to take advantage of the gains that will arise from the large numbers of tourists expected to visit southern Africa that year.

As for agriculture, Diogo and her Tanzanian counterpart agree that this is "an area with a number of opportunities for exchange of experiences and practices in localized sub sectors".

Diogo pointed out that there are Tanzanian business people interested in investing in Mozambique to grow herbs for the production and processing of a variety of spices, including medicinal plants.

At a dinner offered on Thursday night by Pinda, Diogo said that the longstanding ties between Tanzania and Mozambique show that regional integration is possible

A visit to Tanzania, she said, is a visit o the place that inspired Mozambique's struggle for independence from Portuguese colonial rule. "It was in the land of Julius Myerere that Frelimo gained the impetus needed to defeat colonialism", she said. "It was in Tanzania that we gained the strength to fight to the end".

After Mozambican independence "our Tanzanian brothers fought side by side with us against those who wanted to destroy our independence" *a reference to the Tanzanian military contingent that fought in Zambezia province against the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels).

Today, Mozambicans and Tanzanians "should feel ourselves obliged to work and find solutions to our problem", amongst which the fight against poverty stood out.

She mentioned the building of the bridge over the Rovuma, and the abolition of entry visas between the two countries as encouraging steps in the right direction. "We are aware that more contacts between our two countries will strengthen integration, because integration involves success in implementing our governance and cooperation programmes in common areas".