Mozambican business sector wants to reverse decline in trade relations with Portugal

“Mozambique and Portugal have historical trade, cultural and other relations, but we noticed that there is a reduction in trade between the two parties”, Eduardo Sengo, executive director of CTA, an entity that prepared a mission, told Lusa agency which brought dozens of Mozambican businesspeople to Porto, Sines and the Portuguese capital.

For the official, who was speaking at the end of a visit to the Port of Sines, as part of the business mission that culminates, on Wednesday, with the Mozambique-Portugal Business Forum in Lisbon, it is urgent to strengthen commercial relations between the two countries.

“If 10 years ago our companies were already exporting around 100 million dollars, today they export five times less. And the same happens with imports from Portugal to Mozambique, which have fallen by half,” he said.

To “reverse this situation”, the confederation wants to define “strategies” together with the Portuguese business sector, which has expressed “interest in internationalization”.

Eduardo Sengo referred to a possible cooperation agreement with the municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, in Porto, after the visit that the business delegation carried out, on Monday, to the north of the country, stating that Mozambique wants to be the destination of this interest in internationalization manifested.

Also in terms of human resources, the official argued that Mozambique “has a lot of potential” to try to solve the large labor shortage” that Portuguese companies are faced with.

During the visit to the Port of Sines, in which 21 businesspeople linked to various sectors of activity participated, the official said that “opportunities were identified in the area of ​​port management and logistics”.

Also the “paperless experience” [menos papel] and the entire external logistics process can help develop our solutions, whether through a partnership with the Port of Sines, together with the company that manages the Single Electronic Window in Mozambique in order to be able to share these experiences”, he highlighted.

At the end of the visit, the president of the board of directors of the Ports of Sines and Algarve, José Luís Cacho, expressed interest and willingness to increase connections with the business sector in Mozambique.

“We are available to encourage trade in both directions, both in import and export with Mozambican companies”, he guaranteed.

The business mission culminates with the Mozambique-Portugal Business Forum taking place at the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon, on the afternoon of the 24th, which should be attended by the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and his Mozambican counterpart , Filipe Nyusi, in the opening session.