Mozambique

Political relations

France has a long-standing neighbourly relationship with Mozambique in the Indian Ocean, centred around common challenges facing all countries in the south-west Indian Ocean – including the French overseas departments of Mayotte and La Réunion.

France and Mozambique cooperate in areas including maritime security, in this region crossed by more than 30% of global LNG carriers; climate change adaptation, following the two cyclones in 2019 (Idai and Kenneth); and the preservation of biodiversity in a region declared a global hotspot.

Following Cyclone Idai in Mozambique in mid-March 2019, France could swiftly deploy major humanitarian assistance to Mozambique from mainland France and La Réunion and Mayotte thanks to its proximity.

France is also the second-largest contributor to the European Development Fund (EDF), of which Mozambique is the second global priority, and also takes part in the informal G14 group, which brings together most of Mozambique’s donors.

Economic relations

Economic relations between Mozambique and France remain modest (Mozambique is France’s 136th-largest customer, 92nd-largest supplier and 118th-largest trading partner; and France is Mozambique’s 18th-largest foreign investor), but are promising in the medium term. An investment protection agreement has been in force since 2006, and an Air Services Agreement was signed on 3 May 2017. At the end of June 2018, the France-Mozambique Business Club (CAFM) became the France-Mozambique Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), a member of the CCI network.

French development assistance mainly flows through multilateral channels (contributions to the European Development Fund and the Global Fund). Bilaterally, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD, French Development Agency) has made financial commitments of more than €1.1 billion (including €300 million of grants) since 1981, primarily in the area of energy and transport infrastructure. In Mozambique, the AFD is also implementing the fourth C2D (debt relief and development contract) for the period 2015-2019, for a total amount of €17.5 million (sectors of technical and vocational training, biodiversity, water and sanitation).