Mozambique: Japan pledges cooperation in energy – AIM...

Mozambique: Japan pledges cooperation in energy – AIM report

Mozambique: Japan pledges cooperation in energy – AIM report | Club of Mozambique

The Japanese government has promised to boost economic cooperation with Mozambique through investment in the public and private sectors, particularly in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects and in renewable energies.

“We want to strengthen cooperation in the area of energy, because we know that Mozambique has great potential”, said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday, at a Maputo press conference at the end of a working visit to the country.

“Mozambique is a strategic partner for cooperation with the other countries of southern Africa, because of its enormous potential”, declared Kishida.

For the Japanese Prime Minister, the commitments made last year in Tunisia at the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) are an irrefutable indicator that Japan wants “to grow together with the African countries, including Mozambique”.

“At TICAD-8 last year, we promised to invest more than 30 billion dollars in the public and private sectors over the next three years, to offer maximum support to African businesses”, said Kishida.

Kishida, who was concluding an African trip that also took him to Egypt, Ghana and Kenya, said Japan also wants to be a bridge between the G7 group of most developed nations, and African countries.

Japan will hold the rotating presidency of the G7 as from the end of May. The other members of the G7 are the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada.

“I believe that continual diplomacy can establish prosperity between our states”, added Kishida, noting that, under its plan for cooperation with Mozambique, Japan will strengthen its support for the health and education sectors.

The Prime Minister said that the northern Mozambican port of Nacala could also benefit from Japanese investment, because it will contribute to strengthening connectivity in the southern African region, and thus stimulate the growth of the Mozambican economy.

Kishida also condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He declared that “the cause of the rise in food and energy prices is linked to the war in Ukraine, although there are those who want to disinform the world by blaming the price rises on the sanctions imposed by the G7 against Russia”.

“We shall work together to deal with various international questions, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine”, Kishida stressed.

He lamented the war raging in Sudan, and pledged that “as the President of the G7 and as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Japan will contribute to the pacification of Sudan”.