On Saturday, the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, signed three agreements for the management of the Nacala Corridor with his counterparts from Malawi and Zambia, Lazarus Chakwera and Hakainde Hichilema.

The event took place minutes after the inauguration ceremony for the expansion and modernization of the port of Nacala, which was also attended by Japan's deputy foreign minister, Hosaka Yasushi, who financed the project.

These are legal instruments translated into institutional agreements for the Nacala Development Corridor, Road and Rail, as part of the Southern African Trade and Connectivity project and in Mozambique it is implemented by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

These agreements aim to create standards, institutions, mechanisms and procedures to increase trade between the three countries and improve regional integration.

Speaking after the signing of these agreements, they aim to strengthen the operations of the corridor and foster the development of the region. In this context, "these agreements represent the introduction of a new paradigm in the management of the Nacala Corridor, in a tripartite approach to the concerns of economic agents, ensuring integrated mechanisms for the continuous movement of people and goods".

"The aim of these mechanisms is to reduce transport costs and transit times in order to improve the competitiveness of the Nacala Development Corridor, thus making it more attractive to its users," said Nyusi, quoted by AIM.

For his part, Japan's deputy foreign minister, Hosaka Yasushi, said that his country considered it important to develop the Nacala Corridor, which is a regional route that will increase connectivity between Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia.

"The port of Nacala is the gateway connecting the southern African interland countries to the Indian Ocean and one of the best natural ports in East Africa. Japanese businesspeople are also very interested in the port and the joint public-private mission sent in May this year also visited the port," he said.

Expansion and modernization work on the port of Nacala began in 2018. The work includes rebuilding the north quay, widening the main access road, constructing buildings, gates, electrical substations and installing a modern fire-fighting system.

In this way, it increases its cargo handling capacity from 100,000 to 252,000 containers per year.