The company Águas da Região Metropolitana de Maputo (AdRMM) and Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday (22), through which the two institutions will cooperate in the transfer of skills in various areas of knowledge.

The two-year agreement, signed at the Sábiè Water Treatment Plant in the Moamba district of Maputo province, is essentially aimed at promoting technical-scientific innovation and exchanges between students and professionals from UEM and AdRMM, respectively.

Thus, in the light of this memorandum of understanding, AdRMM will now welcome students from the country's largest and oldest higher education institution for pre-professional internship purposes, select and send employees for training, capacity building and coaching, as well as support UEM's capacity building and institutional development processes.

The Eduardo Mondlane University will be responsible for providing science and technology services that contribute to innovation and technology transfer, supporting the promotion of technical-scientific innovation in the AdRMM, participating in the definition of the terms of reference for projects and programs of common interest, among others.

The signing of this memorandum of understanding, as explained by the chairman of AdRMM's Board of Directors, Castigo Álvaro Cossa, is part of the company's transformation and modernization process, which requires greater proactivity in the development of platforms between the technical, support and quality of life improvement sectors for consumers, employees, as well as the academic, social and business sectors.

"The protocol we are signing today with UEM is a decisive milestone for water management in the Maputo Metropolitan Region and its central role in the ecosystem that generates value and knowledge.

Water, our most precious asset, is also a complex and vast area of knowledge, which requires the continuous integration of new knowledge and technologies," said Castigo Álvaro Cossa, for whom the agreement will also contribute to the training of future professionals and researchers, with real and direct experience in the field.

The chairman of AdRMM's Board of Directors stressed on the occasion that science is an essential element in achieving excellence in the water sector. It is in this sense that "the company will benefit from the knowledge, research and innovation produced in academia, guaranteeing the continuous evolution of processes and improvement of water quality for the entire Maputo Metropolitan Region".

For his part, the rector of the UEM, Manuel Guilherme Júnior, considered that the act is the materialization of the role of the university, which must be ever closer to society, contributing to its development and growth.

"This is the path we think the university should follow. To get closer to those who actually have or require knowledge of the various areas in which the university operates. This is the path we will follow, the company Águas da Região Metropolitana de Maputo gives us this possibility, and we put ourselves at their disposal. This is a real field for our students to do their practical work in," he said.