Businesspeople from Mozambique and Japan have agreed, at meetings in Maputo, to meet again in 2015 in Tokyo to continue to study increased Japanese investments in Mozambique, according to Lourenço Sambo, the director-general of Mozambique’s director-general of the Centre for Investment Promotion (CPI).

The Japanese government and business delegation, headed up by the deputy Foreign Affairs minister, Norio Mitsuya during meeting with members of the Mozambican government, companies and businesspeople said that Mozambique was the African country that was of most interest to Japanese investors, but noted that development of relations was affected by a lack of infrastructure in the country.

Japan’s interest in the Mozambican economy is currently focused on exploration of natural resources, but Mozambique is also a significant export destination for Japan, mainly for vehicles.

In 2012-2013 trade between the two countries totalled around US$1 billion, according to Mozambique’s Minister for Industry and Trade, Armando Inroga,.

Japan’s biggest investment in Mozambique was made by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, which mines coal in Tete province at the Minas de Revobué project.

Documents from the Mozambique-Japan Investment Forum, held on 12 January 2014, may be downloaded here.