Maputo — The Mozambican and Portuguese governments agreed in Maputo on Wednesday to set up a Luso-Mozambican investment bank, with capital from both countries, in order to contribute to the development of Mozambique.

To this end senior Mozambican and Portuguese officials signed a request asking the Bank of Mozambique to authorise the opening of the new bank.

For the Mozambican side, the National Director of the Treasury, Antonio Laice, and the chairperson of the Executive Commission of the country's second largest commercial bank, the BCI, Ibrahimo Ibrahimo, signed the document. The Portuguese signatories were the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Portuguese state bank, the Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD), Fernando Faria de Oliveira and Francisco Manuel Bandeira. The CGD is also the main shareholder in the BCI.

The ceremony took place in the office of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, and was witnessed by Guebuza, and by the visiting Portuguese Prime Minister, Jose Socrates.

Guebuza declared the new bank is a sign of the strong commitment of both sides to take part in programmes and projects for the development of Mozambique. "We believe that with a bank of this kind, we will be better able to advance rapidly in our battle for development", he said.

Socrates added that the decision to establish the new bank "is not a commitment for next year, or for the next two years. It's a commitment for the medium and long term".

He sad it would focus on the major projects that will structure the future development of Mozambique. "That means that we have a duty to select well which projects will be financed", Socrates stressed. "There are already contacts between the two governments in order to ensure that this selection is done as quickly as possible".

Socrates believed that Mozambique and Portugal have now opened a new chapter in their relations. "Cooperation will now take place at a higher, more demanding level", he said, "which will require greater rigour and attention, greater skills, because large sums of money will naturally be involved that will be put at the service of Mozambique's development".