Porto, Portugal, Dec. 9, 2025 (Lusa) - The Mozambican president has said, in an interview with Lusa, that the more than 20 agreements to be signed on Tuesday at the summit with Portugal demonstrate the "excellent" level of bilateral relations, but he wants them to be felt by the people.
"Several legal instruments are being prepared, around 21 instruments. This is a clear and unequivocal demonstration of the excellent relations that exist between Portugal and Mozambique," said Daniel Chapo in Porto, where the sixth summit between the two countries is taking place on Tuesday, assuming the objective: "to further strengthen the excellent relations".
Daniel Chapo took office as the fifth President of Mozambique last January and this is his second visit to Portugal in less than six months. In addition to Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, around twenty ministers from both governments are also participating in the Porto summit.
The legal instruments to be signed, including cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding, involve the two states directly, but also public companies from both countries, including in new areas such as communications, digital transformation and infrastructure.
For Chapo, it is necessary to "increasingly consolidate" economic relations with Portugal, despite Mozambique being only the 77th largest supplier of goods to the Portuguese market in 2024.
The solution, he says, is to increase the productivity of the Mozambican economy, starting with agriculture and tourism: "This is our struggle."
In this way, it will be possible to increase exports to Portugal, also addressing the need for infrastructure in Mozambique, in addition to hydrocarbons, a sector that is recovering after the suspension of mega gas projects in Cabo Delgado, in the north, due to terrorism.
"With the projects being resumed in the Rovuma basin, Mozambique's hydrocarbon production capacity will increase and, consequently, Mozambique will increase its exports, not only of hydrocarbons (...). This will undoubtedly increase the level of supply of more products to Portugal, and I am absolutely certain that Mozambique will improve its ranking in the coming years as one of Portugal's supply partners," he said.
Of the agreements to be reached with Portugal at this summit, Chapo wants results with "concrete things" for both peoples: "We think it is important for Portugal and Mozambique to work together in the infrastructure sector. I am talking about the issue of construction, mainly of roads and other extremely important infrastructure. It is not possible to develop the economy without properly developed infrastructure."
He argued that Portugal can support its activities in Mozambique with private financing in agriculture, tourism, catering, trade, industrialisation and infrastructure, "enabling the Mozambique economy to increase its capacity to supply more products to Portugal".
"There will be gains on both sides. In Mozambique, this financing to be invested will provide jobs for young people, generate income for families, and increase the tax-paying capacity of these companies in Mozambique," he said, stressing that Portugal gains from the "supply of more products" and the financing "will have a return on the Portuguese financial market".
"That is why I believe that these legal instruments will bring benefits to both the Mozambican and Portuguese people, which is the objective of our governance, both of the Portuguese Government and the Mozambican Government," he concluded.
Exports of Portuguese goods to Mozambique, led by medicines, increased by 0.8% in 2024 to €216.1 million, while imports are worth around 10% of that figure, with the Mozambican market being only Portugal's 77th largest supplier.
According to data provided to Lusa by the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP) on trade relations between the two countries, which, in addition to the sixth bilateral summit, is also holding a business forum on the same day in Porto, Mozambican exports of goods actually fell by 25.8% from 2023 to 2024, to €26.2 million.
In 2024, Portugal had 1,158 companies exporting to Mozambique - compared to 1,508 in 2020 - with more than half (54%) representing a turnover of between €1 million and €10 million.
In addition to these, around 500 companies in Mozambique have Portuguese capital. Official data also indicates that a quarter of the 100 largest companies under Mozambican law are Portuguese-owned, including the country's two largest banks, BCI, led by the Caixa Geral de Depósitos group, and Millennium BIM, owned by BCP, with a combined total of around 4.5 million customers.
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