A memorandum between Mozambique and Portugal, signed by the maritime authorities of both countries, brings together training, technical capacity, inspection and mapping. The target is a coastline Mozambique does not yet know in full.
The document has not been left in a drawer. According to a note consulted this Saturday by Lusa, it was initialled by the National Maritime Institute (Inamar) and by the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM) of Portugal. The text goes further: it points to modernised services, to the planning of maritime space and to the prevention and combating of marine pollution.
Speaking for the Mozambican side is the chairman of Inamar's Board of Directors, Adolfo José Albino, who does not hesitate about priorities. Mapping and maritime zoning are the priority for Mozambique, he said, and the country already has legislation and regulations in this area. What is missing is putting them into practice, with technical support from Portugal, to build monitoring systems and delimit areas according to their uses.
"For Mozambique, mapping and maritime zoning are the priority", Albino said, as cited in the note.
Albino admits without evasion that the coastline still has mapping work to do. For him, Portuguese experience will serve in two ways: in the technical component and in training national staff.
On the Portuguese side, the Secretary of State for Fisheries and the Sea, Salvador Malheiro, wants results, not just statements. A trade fair is being prepared, possibly with a conference, that will bring Portuguese shipowners and companies closer to Mozambique's major operators and could open business opportunities.
"We are very much focused on concrete actions, on what is called pragmatism", said Malheiro, convinced that the partnership can generate wealth for both sides. In his reading, Mozambique can become an excellent maritime nation, and the partnership may also cover blue carbon and the economic development of the Exclusive Economic Zones.
The working visit also has one more stop: the Inamar delegation will visit the Maritime Authority School. Malheiro reminds us that the sea is not only fishing and biodiversity. It is, in his words, "an enormous source of wealth".
