The V Luso-mozambican Summit starts today in Maputo with the presence of the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, and the objective of deepening bilateral relations and signing several cooperation agreements.

António Costa will be in the Maputo capitol for two days, and the visit will begin with a tribute ceremony at the Monument to Mozambican Heroes, where he will lay a wreath.

The Portuguese Prime Minister will then meet with the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, a meeting after which bilateral agreements will be signed as part of the summit.

In the afternoon, António Costa will go to the Mozambican Parliament, where he will be received by the parliament's president, Esperança Bias. Later, at the Portuguese Cultural Center, he will give a speech and visit the joint exhibition of Gonçalo Mabunda and Francisco Vidal, "O apetrechar do tempo".

In this ceremony, which will also include an intervention by the minister of Culture and Tourism of Mozambique, Edelvina Materula, projects subsidized by the PROCULTURA program will be presented in that country.

The head of government's first day in Maputo ends with a dinner hosted by the President of the Republic at the Ponta Vermelha Palace.

The V Luso-Moçambican Summit "has as its objective the deepening of bilateral relations and the signing of several cooperation instruments.

Speaking to the Lusa agency about this summit, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation indicated that several cooperation agreements will be signed in the areas of agriculture, education, tourism, and at the technical-police level.

According to information provided to journalists by the Prime Minister's office, three protocols have already been signed on Wednesday, one of them for technical collaboration with a view to building the capacity of Mozambique's General Inspectorate of Finance until 2026, and another for cooperation between ASAE and Mozambique's National Institute for Fish Inspection.

In the health area, a memorandum was signed between the Maputo Central Hospital and the Coimbra Hospital and University Center "for the implementation of telemedicine modalities".

According to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the agreements signed between the two countries are part of the Strategic Cooperation Program - signed in November 2021, with a duration of five years - and that, following this meeting, "will be valued" and "developed" by the two governments.

On the sidelines of the 5th Luso-Moçambican Summit, the government is also preparing to close an agreement called the "Lusophone Compact," which involves guarantees of around 400 million euros for economic cooperation and investment in Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP).

On this official visit, the Prime Minister is accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, the Minister of National Defense, Helena Carreiras, and the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Maria do Céu Antunes.

The Portuguese Government delegation also includes the Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Francisco André, for Fiscal Affairs, António Mendonça Mendes, and for the Economy, João Neves.

The Prime Minister's trip to Mozambique for this bilateral summit was initially scheduled for July 11 and 12, but António Costa decided to postpone the visit due to the worsening fire risk in Portugal at the time.

On Saturday, in Luanda, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, anticipated that the Luso-Mozambican Summit would be a "success" in several aspects of cooperation between the two countries, which will be discussed "not only" at the military level, but also at the economic, social, and political levels.