Maputo — Mozambique is the biggest beneficiary of the ProAfrica programme, a research initiative of the Brazilian government, involving scientists from various African countries.

36 per cent of projects in this programme involve Mozambican researchers, the chairperson of the ProAfrica programme committee, Renato Lessa, said in Maputo on Wednesday at the closing ceremony of a two day seminar about scientific cooperation between Mozambique and Brazil.

"This project support programme includes foreign researchers, most of whom are Mozambicans. This shows that one cannot talk about ProAfrica without mentioning Mozambique,", said Lessa, who is also chairperson of the Social Science Programme of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).

One of the main steps forward in science cooperation between the two countries was the recent decision by the Brazilian mining giant Vale to pay for air tickets and other expenses so that Mozambican researchers can attend Masters and Doctorate courses in Brazil.

Since the onset of cooperation, Brazil has offered 50 scholarships a year to Mozambican researchers, but these were rarely taken up because of the lack of financing.

"ProAfrica, which Mozambique joined in 2007, has been contributing to the development of science research in Mozambique", said Mozambican Science and Technology Minister Venancio Massingue. He said that, thanks to the funding by Vale, Mozambican researchers will now have scholarships, air tickets, accommodation and all other relevant expenditures paid.

For his part, Brazilian Ambassador Antonio de Souza e Silva said that his country's intention has always been to meet the agreed decisions, and Vale came up with the funds to complement the scientific cooperation agreement.

He hoped that in the near future he would be able to announce an even larger number of scholarships, adding that Brazil's intention in Mozambique "is not to compete with anyone, but to give the best we have that is of interest to Mozambique'.