Mozambique praised the relationship with Russia, highlighting the extractive industry as a priority for the nations. The president of the Mozambican assembly defends the diversification of trade.
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The president of the Assembly of the Republic (AR) of Mozambique defended the strengthening of cooperation with Russia, pointing out the extractive industry sector as one of the priority areas.
“We know Russia has vast knowledge about Mozambique and its resource potentialat the mercy of our cooperation that goes back to the national liberation struggle”, said Esperança Bias, quoted by the Mozambique Information Agency (AIM).
Esperança Bias was speaking moments after a meeting with her Russian counterpart, Valentina Matvienko, in Moscow, as part of a three-day working visit she has been carrying out since Tuesday.
According to the speaker of the Mozambican parliament, the African country has enormous potential in the extractive industry, with an emphasis on heavy sands, mainly in the Zambézia province, and the presence of Rosneft, a Russian company, in at least three research blocks. of hydrocarbons.
On the occasion, the president of the Mozambican parliament thanked Russia for the decision to increase the number of scholarships for Mozambicans, from 35 to 70, and asked that the package also include strategies to guarantee pre-professional internships for students in Russian companies.
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During the visit, Bias, who is accompanied by a parliamentary delegation, participated in the 544th plenary session of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly.
“I share the idea that as parliamentarians we must continue working on the diversification of trade and I understand that the areas of infrastructure, tourism and energy have enormous potential to achieve this goal”, declared the president of the Council of the Federation (Senate) of Russia, Valentina Matvienko.
Matvienko, the third figure of the Russian state, visited Mozambique in May last year, at the invitation of the speaker of the Mozambican parliament.
The Portuguese-speaking country abstained from all votes at the United Nations on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, advocating for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since independence) was an ally of Moscow during the days of the former USSR, having received military support during the fight against Portuguese colonialism and economic aid after independence, in 1975.
Source: Observadora