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| President Samia Suluhu Hassan and her host, President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique inspect a guard of honour at Maputo State House grounds in Mozambique, yesterday. (Photo by State House). |
The two leaders unveiled the agreements at a joint press conference yesterday after their closed-door meeting in Maputo as part of President Samia’s three-day state visit in Mozambique at the invitation of her host.
“Tanzania and Mozambique share one of the longest boarders in the region and thus the cooperation agreement on defence and security will among others enable us to continue battling terrorists and eventually maintain peace and security,” Ms Samia stated.
Adding; “Our people continue to enjoy good relations, which focus on preserving peace and tranquility dating back to the 1980’s.”
President Samia said the two countries boast of longstanding historic relations dating back to the liberation struggle of southern African countries, under the then President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere and the leader of Mozambican Liberation Front Eduardo Mondlane.
“I believe my visit to Mozambique will rekindle our relations and play an important role in improving the welfare of our people,” she remarked during the news conference.
For his part, Mr Nyusi was confident that improved bilateral relations between Tanzania and Mozambique will not only help to tackle terrorism but other crimes along the boarder such as drug and human trafficking.
“In our meeting with President Samia, we also discussed and shared information on progress attained by SADC (Southern African Development Community) and Rwanda forces in fighting terrorists in some northern parts of Mozambique,” President Nyusi explained.
The Mozambican leader further appreciated the role played by Tanzania in supporting the liberation struggle of southern African countries including Mozambique.
On trade and investment front, President Samia pointed that despite the terrorism threat, Mozambique had registered some progress in development of its natural gas reserves of which Tanzania can borrow a leaf.
“We have also agreed to cooperate on development of natural gas between our countries by sharing experience and learning from each other,” Ms Samia noted.
On the other hand, President Samia expressed concerns that trade between Tanzania and Mozambique had declined from 53bn/- to 26bn/- over the past one year.
“This is an area which we have to work on through boosting trade and investment. We have discussed with my counterpart on how to tap opportunities which are available in agriculture, fishing and mining, among others.
“It is high time we promoted intra-trade amongst ourselves and shift from the tendency of trading with other countries outside the continent. This should go in line with attracting investors to invest in either of the two countries,” she urged.
President Nyusi mentioned additional areas of cooperation in trade between Tanzania and Mozambique as energy, communication and transportation.
“We have been discussing various issues of interest for the welfare of our people. Since we share the border, the two countries are determined to continue entering into cooperation agreements to promote trade and investment,” the Mozambican leader affirmed.
The two leaders as well agreed on exchange programmes for students of higher institutions of learning between the two nations and teaching of Kiswahili in Mozambique to ease communication and build cohesion.
President Samia appreciated the invitation extended to her by President Nyusi and went on to invite him to Tanzania so that they can assess implementation of issues they have agreed upon.
Daily News
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