This year marks the 46th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Mozambique, and it's also the 46th anniversary of the independence of Mozambique. ChinAfrica sat down with Ambassador of Mozambique to China, Maria Gustava, talking about the development of ties over the past decades, key areas of cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and the future prospects.

ChinAfrica: What are your comments on the development of China-Mozambique bilateral relations in the past 46 years? What are the highlights of the development of the bilateral ties?

Maria Gustava: I thank you for this opportunity to talk about the relationship between China and Mozambique. First of all, I want to say that it's not only the 46th anniversary of the bilateral relations. It's also the 46th anniversary of the independence of Mozambique, which is a very special day for Mozambique and for China, because we established the relationship on the same day. China was the first country to recognize Mozambique as an independent country. Our bilateral relationship has been evolving since then.

We have very good friendship, solidarity and cooperation. Now, the relationship has grown to full partnership. We have a strategic partnership of cooperation, and this was the understanding that was reached between our two leaders, President Xi Jinping and President Filipe Nyusi. They signed this agreement in 2016. I will say that our relationship is very excellent, and is moving very well. You can see the result not only for the country but also for the people.

In the past decades, China and Mozambique have been cooperating in various areas such as agriculture, business, medical care, trade, etc. What is your vision for future China-Mozambique ties? In which sectors do you think China and Mozambique need to strengthen cooperation?

The relations between Mozambique and China will further consolidate and expand in the future, because we have already laid the foundation for that. There is trust between the two countries. And the people also are willing to cooperate. I foresee that in the future we will continue to strengthen our relationship. We cooperate in international organizations. Mozambique supports China on policies such as One Country, Two Systems, and is against any interference in the internal matters in China.

Also, we will continue to have our economic relationship on a win-win basis where we have Chinese companies investing in Mozambique. The trade will continue to boom. The areas that we see that are very important in terms of economics is investment in infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative. It's also important that we develop more trade and investment in agriculture, because Mozambique is an agricultural country.

China has a comparative advantage in terms of funds and technology, so they can share the experience with Mozambique in agriculture and also in other areas that we are already cooperating. I'm just mentioning this, but there is more to be done together economically. I also want to mention about people-to-people. So, we foresee a good prospect for economic, political, social and cultural cooperation between the two countries.

The 2021 China-Africa Video and Photo Competition was launched on May 21. What's your opinion about people-to-people exchanges like this competition? In your view, how to promote the contact and exchanges between peoples of our two countries?

This initiative that you just mentioned is very good, because it shows the reality to both sides. Because our young people, for instance, they have to know how is China? What is its culture? What is the tradition? What China has done to develop, to become the second-largest economy in the world? And at the same time, we believe that the Chinese have to know more about Africa, and know a lot more about my country.

One of the things I want to mention about the people-to-people exchange is the scholarship. I believe that we should continue to have more Africans coming to China to learn and build friendships here. So, when they go back, they will continue to have this relationship. Also, it's not just the young people coming to China. I'm talking about the young people of China going to Mozambique and to Africa, to stay there with us and even to serve in some of the community activities there that are beneficial. So I think it's very important for the future relationship that we involve the people from all sections.

The Second China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo will be held in Changsha, Hunan Province, this year. What's your opinion about the economic and trade ties between China and Mozambique? What's your expectation from this year's expo?

It's through the economic interaction that our people can also come out of the poverty and develop. We are looking forward to participating in the expo. We are looking forward to bringing our entrepreneurs to exchange with the Chinese entrepreneurs and to show what they would offer to the Chinese market. We need to have a broader opening for our products to be sold in China, particularly for agriculture products.

China is a big market and it grants us duty-free access to its market. Also, it is important that China can work with us on agricultural processing, because we have a lot of agricultural products that need to be processed. China has expertise, funding and market. It is important for us to start building capacity of our farmers so that they can improve their products in order to have access to this big market. So, this is something that we are looking forward to working with China to see if we can sell more.

This year, the meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in Senegal. How do you see the role of FOCAC in promoting China-Africa cooperation and the high-level communication between China and African countries?

Since 2000, when FOCAC was established, if you look in terms of the numbers, if you look in terms of interaction, you can see that a lot have been done, which means that FOCAC has played a very important role in boosting the cooperation between China and Africa.

I believe that we have done a lot, but more can be done. We can see what's the comparative advantage, what we have done best that we can continue and where we can do a little bit more, because the world is not static, it's evolving. So, we should respond to the new reality.

Mozambique is looking forward to participating in the next FOCAC meeting in Senegal. We are ready to make our contribution to the platform to do even better for China-Africa cooperation.

(Print Edition Title: Fruitful Engagement)

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