The World Bank reaffirmed on Tuesday its commitment to Mozambique, stating its willingness to work with the country. The commitment was reiterated in Paris, by Hafez Ghanem, World Bank vice president for Eastern and Southern Africa, after an audience with the Mozambican Head of State, Filipe Nyusi.

Ghanem said the meeting was an opportunity to review relations with Mozambique. "We have a relationship of many years, a very strong program, and I reiterated to the President the commitment of the World Bank to continue to strengthen our partnership."

For Hafez Ghanem, his institution would like to continue working in areas of support and even in others where it could do even more. "There is always a new challenge.

We talked (with the President of the Republic) about challenges on more access (of the population) to energy and even the digital agenda. We discussed that and I think we got a very good understanding."

"Overall, I think the relationship between Mozambique and the World Bank is strong and we feel that we can continue to strengthen that bond, with more trust," said the World Bank vice president, admitting that his institution can do more not only for Mozambique, but for Africa in general.

The continent is now the destination of more than 40% of the World Bank's global loans.

About the situation in Cabo Delgado, Hafez Ghanem said that terrorism is a "terrible challenge" for any country.

"As I told the President, the World Bank would love to work with Mozambique to see how we can, in the area of development, accompany the country in this difficult process of seeking peace. We will not abandon Mozambique," assured Hafez Ghanem.

The World Bank in April approved Mozambique's eligibility to benefit from its Prevention and Resilience Allocation Facility (PRA), unlocking up to $700 million in funding to prevent the escalation of conflict and build resilience in the country.

In parallel, the financial institution made a $100 million donation to the International Development Association (IDA) in support of the Northern Mozambique Crisis Recovery Project, which funds immediate recovery activities, including restoration of livelihoods and creation of economic opportunities, building social cohesion and improving access to basic services, as well as rehabilitation of selected public infrastructure designed to benefit people displaced due to the actions of terrorist groups and host communities in specific areas of northern Mozambique.