Maputo, Mozambique, 22 Aug – The government of Mozambique Tuesday approved the possible construction of an antiviral drugs factory in the country, government spokesman and Deputy Minister for Education and Culture, Luís Covane said in Maputo.

The minister, who was speaking to “Notícias” following a visit by three technicians from Brazil involved in drawing up a feasibility study in Mozambique, said that the amount of funding required to build the factory would not exceed US$10 million.

Covane said that although it was too soon to say where the factory would be built and the final amounts involved, the feasibility study of potential markets, prices and levels of HIV-AIDS “showed that Mozambique needs this kind of factory.”

Cited by Notícias, the government spokesman said that the factory would not only produce antiviral drugs, as “the machines that will be installed could produce different types of medication.”

Recently, the ministerial advisor from the Brazilian embassy, Francisco Luz, said that Mozambique could have an anti-retroviral drugs factory by 2009, if the government approved its construction this year.(macauhub)