MAPUTO (Mozambique), Jan 13 (Bernama) -- The Japanese government has pledged to disburse, over the next five years, a financial package to the value of 70 billion yen (about US$672 million) for Mozambican development programmes in areas such as infrastructures and agricultural growth, Mozambican News Agency (AIM) reported.
The aid was announced in Maputo on Sunday after talks between Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. This is the first time that a Japanese Prime Minister has visited Mozambique.
Much of the funding, which takes the form of loans, will go towards improving the state of roads, in the north of the country, particularly in the northern development corridor, which runs from the port of Nacala through Nampula and Niassa provinces to the Malawian border.
Another slice of the Japanese aid will go towards the ProSavana project, a triangular cooperation agreement between Mozambique, Japan and Brazil intended to improve agricultural production in Nampula, Niassa and Zambezia.
Specific agreements were signed by Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi and Japanese ambassador Eiji Hashimoto for the building of a power station, and for the construction of a Higher Institute of Health Sciences.
A memorandum of understanding was also signed for interchanges between the Mozambican Agricultural Research Institute (IIAM), and the Japan International Research Centre for Agricultural Sciences.
In the area of education, agreements on academic research was signed between two Mozambican universities, the Eduardo Mondlane University, based in Maputo, and UniLurio, in Nampula, with the Japanese universities of Akita and Ehime.
After the talks with Abe, Guebuza told reporters "we have reaffirmed the need to continue to deepen and diversify our relationship in all spheres. For our part, we praised the continued Japanese intervention in agriculture, staff training, infrastructures, energy and the development of natural resources".
A major stress in the discussions, he added, was the need to involve the business sector - and so, later on Sunday, Guebuza and Abe took part in a seminar on Mozambique's business potential and opportunities.
Guebuza also praised Japanese assistance to ProSavana which "is intended to promote the integrated development of the Nacala Corridor, and raise the productivity of our peasants".
A joint communique between the Mozambican and Japanese delegations announced a new partnership, to be known as the "Japan-Mozambique Initiative for Revitalising and Accelerating Development". The acronym for this partnership is "AMIZADE" (which is also the Portuguese word meaning "friendship").
The document noted Guebuza's appreciation "for Japan's leading role in contributing to Africa's development, especially through TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development)".
The two leaders "welcomed the fact that the Japanese private sector's interests in Mozambique are steadily increasing in a wide range of areas, including natural resource and energy development such as natural gas and coal".
Guebuza pledged that he would "give full support to facilitate smooth progress of the existing investment projects and make further efforts to provide a safe, secure and stable investment environment, including through developing and implementing appropriate and predictable legislation and policies as well as facilitating smooth customs procedures".
Guebuza and Abe both "reaffirmed their commitment to continue close dialogue with civil society and rural communities in the ProSavana project, and to work together in improving the lives of local communities through sustainable agricultural development and poverty reduction for smallholders in the Nacala Corridor region".
-- BERNAMA