Japanese group Mitsui & Co has invested more than US$1 billion in Mozambique since it started operating in the country in 1997, Mitsui E & P Mozambique Area 1 Limited director, Motoyasu Nozaki told the Mozambican press.

Nozaki said at the end of a meeting with the President of the Mozambican parliament, Verónica Macamo, that most of that amount was applied in the Moatize coal basin, Tete province and in the Nacala Logistics Corridor.

The Japanese group agreed in March 2017, after about three years of negotiations, to buy 15% of the 95% stake held by Brazilian group Vale at the Moatize coal mine (the remaining 5% is owned by the Mozambican state) and half the 50% stake of the Vale group in the Nacala Logistics Corridor, made up of a railway line between Moatize and the port of Nacala and respective port facilities.

The Mitsui & Co group is also part of the consortium of companies that have the Rovuma Area 1 block concession, in northern Mozambique, operated by US group Anadarko Petroleum and where large natural gas deposits have been discovered.

The meeting between Nozaki and Macamo was intended to prepare a visit to Japan next February by a Mozambican delegation led by the president of the Mozambican parliament.

During the visit organised by the Mitsui & Co group, the Mozambican delegation is expected to hold meetings with 30 Japanese companies. (macauhub)