After India, France and Madagascar, prime minister Paul Bérenger has been to Mozambique in the context of his visit to the ?populating countries?. It was a very emotional trip to pay tribute to this land, which sent slaves to Mauritius, a ?sacred pilgrimage? as the prime minister said. But it also sounds like a promise of many economic perspectives and partnerships.

Paul Bérenger headed a delegation of public and private sector representatives. The public sector was represented by Agriculture minister, Nando Bodha, MP Françoise Labelle, Foreign affairs secretary Vijay Makhan and permanent secretary, Mrs. Ramsamy. From the private sector, Jean Humbert, the president of the Chamber of agriculture and Mauritius Telecom, among others, went to Mozambique to assess the development possibilities there.

This new partnership should benefit both countries. Mozambique offers favourable development prospects for Mauritian investors. Some Mauritian companies like Rogers and Permoglaze have already seized the opportunity and invested there.

But Mauritian investments are also very profitable to Mozambique, the most eloquent example being the Marromeu sugar factory managed by Thierry Lagesse group. This factory has prompted the development of the whole village around. The investment of Rs 3.6 billion has not been totally recovered and the factory has not yet reached the expected profitability.

So, larger partnerships could be favoured from now on to reduce risks for investors. In this context, the Mauritian prime minister laid the foundation stone for the first such partnership called Mozambique Farms. The initiative comes from Jean How Hong of Happy World Foods; he has joined forces with Ramphul Ltd, the French company Bourbon Axa Investment Fund and the Mozambican Muloso Gestao Ltd to create a chicken production and processing plant.

Mozambique has many natural resources that attract Mauritians. It has many pristine areas waiting to be developed and the country is twenty times bigger than Mauritius. The 200 000 km2 of fertile land of the Zambezi valley could be used to cultivate rice, cotton, maize or tobacco. Moreover, Mozambique has a big fishing potential in its exclusive economic zone. Alain Talbot, from Talbot fishing, wanted to know the possibilities of having a fishing permit.

It seems that this visit has been full of promise from both sides. Paul Bérenger looks excited by this partnership and the Mozambican president seems determined to give all possible support to Mauritian investors. The signed agreements will now have to be translated into concrete projects.

A general cooperation framework

This visit was an opportunity for both countries to sign agreements and propose initiatives to help develop their economies. The PM came back on Sunday with three agreement protocols including one on general cooperation between Mauritius and Mozambique. Apart from this general agreement to expand and give a legal framework to the partnership between the two countries, two other agreements were signed after a meeting at the president?s office. Nando Bodha and his Mozambican counterparts signed one on mutual cooperation to fight drug trafficking and allow judicial assistance to fight narcodollars. The second was on security and police cooperation.