By Lake Zone Watch Writer
The spirit of the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere-Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane legacy continues to live on with the three-day state visit of Mozambican President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi.
Tanzania and Mozambique are two neighbouring countries, which waged a protracted liberation struggle against Portuguese colonialism in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s that saw Mozambicans rid themselves against five centuries of foreign domination.
President Nyusi, who completes his second five-year term this year, is tomorrow scheduled to open the annual Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair, a major business gathering that attracts local and foreign companies to showcase their businesses for public view as Tanzania woos foreign investors in various key sectors of the national economy.
Tanzania and Mozambique trace their cooperation in the early days of the 1960s when foremost Africa’s independence heroes, Mwalimu Nyerere and Mondlane of Mozambique teamed together to wage a relentless struggle against all forms of subjugation in Africa.
Both Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Mozambican guest, will hold discussions to hammer cooperation agreements in such key sectors as business, investment and defence and security, according to a State House statement issued in Dar es Salaam on Monday.
Mozambique has been rightly considered one of the most promising new frontiers of gas production in the world, the Ruvuma Basin that is located along the border of Tanzania and Mozambique is assumed to hold up to 150 TCf (Trillion Cubic Feet) and most of it in Mozambican territorial waters.
Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province is home to the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project and potentially many more. Currently, it wields three ambitious LNG projects.
On the Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado, three large infrastructure projects are underway to liquefy gas from these fields: the Mozambique LNG Project (Total) Ruvuma LNG Project (ExxonMobil, ENI, CNPC, and Coral FLNG Project (ENI and ExxonMobil).
The southern Africa nation embarked on the International Monetary Fund-inspired free market reforms in 1987 after the ruling FRELIMO party dropped Marxist-Leninism socialist policies from its agenda.
Apart from enjoying cordial relations since Mozambique gained independence from Portugal on June 25, 1975, Tanzania and the former Portuguese colony also boast of gas riches along their border which have won international recognition.