In a statement released today, the Presidency of the Republic of Mozambique states that Filipe Nyusi's working visit will take place until April 27, at the invitation of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, during which he "will hold talks with his Portuguese counterpart on specific issues of bilateral cooperation, boosting trade and investment, as well as holding a meeting with the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro".

The Mozambican Head of State "will also participate in the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the April Revolution", as well as "in the relaunch" of the state-owned Televisão de Moçambique (TVM) signal in Portugal, and in the launch of General Atanásio Mtumuke's book "The End of the National Liberation Struggle in Mozambique: Operation Omar".

Today, the Mozambican President will attend the signing of a protocol between associations of entrepreneurs from Portugal and Mozambique, within the scope of the business forum that will take place in the afternoon at the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon.

In the morning, the Portuguese Industrial Association (AIP) and the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) will hold a meeting with entrepreneurs from both countries, before the business forum that will take place in the afternoon at the CCB.

The purpose of this morning's meeting is to promote "the establishment of partnerships between companies from both countries that will strengthen the economic and commercial relationship between Portugal and Mozambique", according to the statement released by AIP, which reports on the bilateral session, with the presence of AIP's vice-president, Jorge Pais, and CTA's president, Agostinho Vuma.

The session follows a series of visits to companies in the Porto region and in the Sines region, which the Mozambican entrepreneurs made on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, and precedes the Mozambique-Portugal Business Forum, which will take place in the afternoon at the Centro Cultural de Belém.

At this afternoon meeting, at the CCB, a protocol will be signed in the presence of Filipe Nyusi, which "foresees that the two associations will undertake to encourage investments in the countries they represent, to establish partnerships between entrepreneurs from both countries and to identify business opportunities, in order to increase the economic and commercial relationship between Mozambique and Portugal".

The balance of the Portuguese trade balance with Mozambique worsened by 2.4% last year, but remained positive at 448.2 million euros, continuing the favourable balance registered in recent years.

According to data from the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP) based on the Bank of Portugal, sent to Lusa, trade with Mozambique has always had a favourable balance for Portugal in the last five years, with 2022 being the year in which the balance was most favourable to Portugal.

The positive balance in that year was 459.4 million euros, up from the 356.1 million registered in 2021.

Mozambique is the 33rd largest customer for Portuguese exports, representing 0.28% of sales, and is the 78th largest supplier, selling 0.03% of the goods that Portugal buys abroad, which makes its influence on the evolution of Portugal's trade balance very insignificant.

Mozambican investment in Portugal has always been below 100 million since 2019, reaching its peak in 2022, with 94 million euros invested by Mozambican companies in Portugal, representing about 0.1% of total foreign investment.

Read Also: Nyusi sponsors protocol to foster trade with Portugal (Portuguese version)