Japan has agreed to provide Mozambique with commercial food aid of rice valued at $7.1 million, under a cooperation deal signed in Maputo by Mozambican Deputy Foreign Minister Eduardo Koloma, and Japanese ambassador Eiji Hashimoto.
The governments agreed that the rice is commercial food aid meaning it will be sold on the Mozambican market through the normal commercial channels, and the money raised will then be spent on various social development programs.
Speaking at the end of the ceremony, Koloma said that the donation strengthens the partnership between the two countries in the pursuit of the objectives of the 2008 Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
The rice is not Japanese, but will be acquired in countries such as Thailand and the United States. It will arrive in Mozambique during 2012, and the Mozambican and Japanese authorities will decide exactly where it should be sold.
Koloma stressed the contribution Japan has made to Mozambique’s development in areas such as demining, electrification, roads and agriculture.
Japan has been providing food aid to Mozambique since 1977, and the cumulative value of this aid is now about $160 million.
Meanwhile, President Armando Guebuza received Japan’s Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Toshiyuki Kato, who declared that the Japanese government and private businesses are interested in increasing economic cooperation with Mozambique at all levels.
After the audience, Kato told reporters that he and Guebuza “talked about the cooperation between Japan and Mozambique, which is strong, but which should improve still further”.
Source African Press Agency
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