Maputo — The Mozambican and Portuguese governments on Wednesday signed a series of cooperation agreements, including one that envisages holding annual bilateral summits between the two countries.

The other agreements cover cooperation over climate change, renewable energy, technical military matters, culture, school libraries and the promotion of reading. The delegations also signed an addendum to an agreement on a Portuguese line of credit, and a memorandum of understanding in transport and communications.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who is on a four day official visit to Mozambique which began on Tuesday night.

Speaking at the end of the ceremony, Guebuza said that the visit of the Portuguese Prime Minister was an unequivocal sign of the efforts that are being made to strengthen the relations between the two countries, and of Portugal's support for Mozambique's struggle against poverty.

The discussions between the two delegations, Guebuza stressed, showed that the friendship between Mozambique and Portugal is very strong, and the proof of this was the document committing the two countries to holding annual summits.

These summits, Guebuza explained, "will be an opportunity to strengthen still further our relations, and to find ways of deepening these relations in the economic sphere".

The current environment in Mozambique, said the President, favours the attraction of foreign investment, and he urged Portuguese businesses to step up their investment in Mozambique.

Socrates is accompanied by a group of about 55 Portuguese businessmen, as well as most of the ministers responsible for economic affairs in his government, notably the Finance Minister, Teixeira dos Santos.

"This is the time to give new drive to our relations", declared Socrates. "That's why I've come with a large delegation, consisting of nine members of the government, dozens of leaders of the Portuguese public administration, and 55 business people. We've come with the wish to give a clear sign to the Mozambican government and the Mozambican people that Portugal is committed to economic cooperation that favours the development of Mozambique".

He described the commitment to annual bilateral summits as "a historic step", which was only possible "after we managed to remove several political problems, the last of which was solving the problem of Cahora Bassa".

He was referring to the deal in November 2007, under which majority ownership of HCB, the company that operates the giant Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi, passed into Mozambican hands. Previously Portugal had held 18 per cent of HCB, and Mozambique just 18 per cent.

Now the position is reversed, with Mozambique holding 85 per cent of the shares and Portugal 15 per cent. The Mozambican government obtained a loan of 700 million US dollars from a consortium of French and Portuguese banks to buy up most of the Portuguese shares, and the loan is being repaid from HCB's sales of electricity.

Socrates stressed the importance of the agreement on renewable energies, arguing that Mozambique can benefit from Portugal's experience in this area. He said that Portugal is now the European Union member with the highest use of renewable sources of energy

"About 42 per cent of our electricity comes from renewable energy", he said. "This makes Portugal one of the front line countries in terms of electricity based on renewable sources".

He said that in the southern province of the Alentejo Portugal has the largest solar power station in the world, and could share this experience with Mozambique.

"We shall start with demonstration projects, such as small solar power stations to supply hospitals and schools", continued Socrates. "We also have the idea of setting up small photo-voltaic station so that electricity can reach some villages more quickly".