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By Press Trust of India: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday called on Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi and discussed ways to expand the bilateral development corporation and committed to work for the advancement of the partnership in areas like trade, investments and defence.
Jaishankar, who is here on his first official visit, also co-chaired the 5th India-Mozambique Joint Commission Meeting with his counterpart Veronica Macamo.
“Honoured to call on President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique. Conveyed the personal greetings of PM @narendramodi,” Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting.
“Heartwarming to hear his fond memories of his time in Ahmedabad. Appreciate his deep interest in deepening our cooperation,” Jaishankar said referring to President Nyusi’s stay in Gujarat for his studies.
“Valued his guidance on further developing our relationship. In line with PM Modi’s vision, India will respond to Mozambican priorities. Committed to work for advancements in trade and investments, defence, development cooperation, health and people-to-people ties,” Jaishankar said.
WHAT DID THE LEADERS DISCUSS?
During the Joint Commission Meeting, Jaishankar and Macamo took stock of the progress made in a wide spectrum of areas of bilateral cooperation, including trade and investment, agriculture, energy, railways, health, education, development cooperation and defence and explored new avenues to intensify it further.
“Exchanged perspectives on our solid cooperation in the multilateral fora. Congratulated Mozambique on its successful UNSC Presidency month,” Jaishankar tweeted.
“Agreed to work together to voice the concerns of Global South, especially on issues like terrorism and climate change,” he said.
During the press availability after meeting Nyusi, Jaishankar said he had a very good meeting with the president.
He said the discussions with the President were mainly focused on our bilateral cooperation.
India is an important development partner of Mozambique, he said.
“I was very happy that many of the projects that we have done, including railways, agriculture, electricity…We had discussions on how to expand our development corporation,” he said.
They also discussed some ideas in the field of health.
The two leaders also talked about how to increase railway cooperation and the work done by the two nations in the past in terms of rural electrification and water.
“With the President and I also exchanged views on the security and defence cooperation between our two countries. India is a strong and reliable partner of Mozambique in this regard,” Jaishankar said.
TERRORISM, CLIMATE CHANGE
“We have been supporting the operations of Mozambique’s defence forces because we both face a common challenge of terrorism,” he added.
He said there are large Indian investments in the country by Indian companies.
He assured the President that India is very invested in the growth and development of Mozambique.
“We are very confident that we will overcome the challenges which have been there in recent years,” he stressed.
And on the political side, he said India was very appreciative of the Mozambique President’s participation in the Voice of Global South Summit in January as India takes forward its G-20 presidency.
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“We look to countries like Mozambique to strengthen our voice in the world platform,” the minister said, adding “our political cooperation in the United Nations has been strong”.
The two sides agreed to continue working very closely with each other.
Jaishankar said he has regard for President Nyusi who studied in India.
“…we see him as someone who studied in India, the same state Prime Minister Modi is from, the same state that I represent in the Indian Parliament. So we had some nice words, some good memories of his stay there. It was something which was very warm, he conveyed his best wishes to Prime Minister Modi,” Jaishankar said, adding he also conveyed Prime Minister Modi’s good wishes to the President.
On a question, he said the two nations already cooperate in a fairly broad range of areas.
“So, so there are already areas but I assured the President from Prime Minister Modi’s side, whatever priorities of the government of Mozambique are, we will respond,” Jaishankar said.
“This is India’s way of doing partnership. We ask our partner what is your priority. So whatever is the priority, we look at that.
India he said believes that after COVID, health is a big priority.
“Water is a priority, electricity is a big priority. So these are the same challenges that we have in India also,” he said, adding India will be very happy to share its capabilities with the brothers and sisters of Mozambique.
In his opening remarks at Joint Commission Meeting, Jaishankar expressed sympathy to Mozambique for the devastation caused by Cyclone Freddy.
“We had also offered the services of our naval ship, INS Sujata, to the Government of Mozambique during its stay in this country.
He said India and Mozambique share a long-standing and friendly relationship that is deeply rooted in historical, cultural, and economic ties.
“Our solidarity goes back to an era where we have both struggled for freedom…This relationship, for many decades, has been nurtured by the keenest interest shown by our leaders,” he said.
“We look forward to receiving President Nyusi in India for the next edition of Vibrant Gujarat when it takes place,” the minister said.
As two developing countries, India and Mozambique have a lot in common, including a shared vision for progress and prosperity, Jaishankar said.
“Our bilateral cooperation spans a wide spectrum of areas, including trade and investment, agriculture, health, education, and defence. A review of our bilateral relations was conducted in the Foreign Office Consultations that were held between us in July last 2022,” he said.
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“This Joint Commission is, therefore, an excellent platform to take stock of the progress made in our ties and to explore new avenues of cooperation. Such institutional mechanisms of interaction form the structure of any bilateral relationship and indeed its regular meeting is central to the growth and steady advancement of our ties,” he added.
He said the two countries have a robust bilateral trade of about USD 4 billion.
“We are looking at discussing new areas in meeting the expectations and aspirations of our people. There are new demands and new opportunities on both sides and surely the Joint Commission should explore that very actively,” he said.
Jaishankar said the Indian community in Mozambique has a very significant role in bridging the economic partnership between the two countries.
“We also have a large Indian investment in this country, today estimated at about USD 11 billion, largely in the domain of energy and mining. And our development partnership which extends to 14 Lines of Credit, to the value of more than USD 770 million, is another example, a very practical example of South-South cooperation,” he said.
“Our defence ties have also taken giant strides in the past few years and we are again cooperating very effectively, especially when it comes to dealing with the challenges of terrorism,” Jaishankar said.
He said bilateral cooperation today spans a very vast range of economic, developmental, people-to-people, and security domains.
“But they also build on a long tradition of political cooperation, and this tradition has been particularly visible in multilateral forums.
“Our commonality of world views has again underpinned our foreign policy cooperation and certainly today as we look at the world we are also exploring, how India and Mozambique, as two important countries in the Indian Ocean, how we discharge our shared responsibility for ensuring peace and security in the Indian Ocean region,” he said.
India will always be ready to cooperate with Mozambique on this, he assured.
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“And I am very confident that my visit today, my discussions with you, the meeting of our officials, the calls that I will have after this; all this will contribute to giving new directions to our partnership and taking our cooperation to a high level,” he added.
Jaishankar also visited Nacional Fabrica Nacional de Medicamentos in Maputo.
“Thank Minister of Health Dr Armindo Tiago for joining. Impressed by the cutting edge technology & state of the art facilities. India’s transfer of technology & skilled manpower is making a difference in Mozambique,” he tweeted.
Fabrica Nacional De Medicamentos SA (FNM) was founded in 2014 as Strides Pharma Mozambique as a joint venture between Strides Pharma Science Ltd, a pharmaceutical multinational company headquartered in Bangalore, India, and Mozambique Holdings Ltd, an Indian owned conglomerate headquartered in Maputo, Mozambique.
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