The Mozambican President is the “guest of honor” at the EurAfrican Forum, which promotes dialogue between Africa, Europe, and international investors. The visit occurs amid progress in natural gas “mega-projects.” The Mozambican President participates this Wednesday in Cascais, alongside the Portuguese Head of State, in the EurAfrican Forum, marking his third trip to Portugal since December and the day he celebrates one and a half years of his presidency.

In an interview with Lusa on Tuesday in Maputo, before departing for Lisbon, Daniel Chapo highlighted that “diplomatic and political relations between Mozambique and Portugal are excellent,” and that in recent times, “important” steps have been taken in economic and commercial relations. “Portugal is one of the largest strategic partners for the economic and social development of Mozambique, and we believe we need to increasingly tighten our economic and commercial relations. And this is an aspect that, if you pay attention to our recent visits to Portugal, we have focused our attention on,” pointed out the Mozambican Head of State.

Daniel Chapo participates this morning, as guest of honor, in the opening session of the ninth edition of that forum, organized by the Portuguese Diaspora Council under the motto “Africa on the Rise: Prosperity through Global Cooperation.” According to the Mozambican Presidency, Daniel Chapo’s intervention at the meeting is part of efforts to promote dialogue between Africa, Europe, and other international partners surrounding themes related to investment, sustainable development, and economic integration.

Chapo highlighted, in the interview with Lusa, that the invitation from his Portuguese counterpart to participate in the EurAfrican Forum, precisely on the day marking one and a half years of his governance—having been inaugurated on January 15, 2025—is “an unequivocal sign of the excellent relations” between the two countries.

“Our countries need to grow, they need to develop. Both the Portuguese Government and the Mozambican Government need to create better living conditions for the population. Hence, we think it is extremely important to turn our attention to economic and commercial relations, which are also excellent. But we can improve them more and more,” he said.

The trip to Portugal runs until July 17 and includes working meetings with the President of the Portuguese Republic, António José Seguro, and with the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, among other Portuguese entities. The Mozambican President stated on December 9 of last year in Porto that Portugal is a “strategic and privileged partner” in Mozambique’s economic development, challenging Portuguese businesspeople to invest in the country while recalling the ongoing reforms.

This request was resumed before he departed for Lisbon, stating that they must secure their position now as mega-projects of 50 billion dollars (43.8 billion euros) in gas move forward, and warning that waiting for tomorrow will be too late. “I invite Portuguese businesspeople to position themselves, because the time is now. And tomorrow might be too late,” said Daniel Chapo in an interview with Lusa.

The visit takes place in a year of on-the-ground progress in the three Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) mega-projects in the Rovuma basin, northern Mozambique. Also on March 9 of this year, the Head of State was in Lisbon to participate in the inauguration ceremony of António José Seguro.

In the same interview with Lusa, Chapo said he projects that the first disbursements from the 500 million euro financing line for Portuguese companies in Mozambique will happen in the second semester. “We are working in this direction so that throughout this second semester of this year, there will already be a disbursement of the values and the projects that were defined can actually start,” advanced Daniel Chapo.

Portugal and Mozambique signed 22 legal cooperation instruments on December 9 in Porto during the sixth bilateral summit, including an addendum to the Strategic Cooperation Program 2022-2026 between both governments and this credit line. (Club of Mozambique, 2026-07-15)