Maputo — Kenyan private direct investment in Mozambique amounted to 76 million dollars over the last five years, according to the Mozambican Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno.

According to the minister, who was addressing a Mozambique-Kenya Business Forum held in Maputo on Friday, most of the investments are in the sectors of industry, agriculture and agro-industry, services, transport and communications, hotels and tourism.

The business forum between the two countries comes as result of the three-day official visit of the Kenyan President, William Ruto, to Mozambique.

At the forum, Moreno also said that direct investment from Kenya will contribute to the growth and diversification of the national economy and exports of raw materials and processed products.

"Aware of the entrepreneurial and innovative capacity of Kenyan businesses, the government invites entrepreneurs from Kenya to focus on areas and projects such as the revitalization of the clothing, textile and footwear, metalworking, chemical, rubber, plastic, and food fortification sectors", he said.

The revitalization of the textile industry in Mozambique was proposed recently by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi during the Annual Conference of the Mozambican Private Sector.

According to Moreno, the Mozambique-Kenya Business Forum is "an opportunity to launch the Joint Trade and Investment Committee between the two countries, a platform that will boost and monitor the evolution of economic trade and investment cooperation, including trade facilitation issues."

He pointed out that Kenyan businessmen in Mozambique can also invest in the electricity and mineral resources sectors, specifically in the Mpanda Nkuwa hydroelectric project on the Zambezi River and natural gas exploration in the Búzi river basin in the central province of Sofala.

The one day Business Forum counted drew together business people and members of the government from both countries.