Mozambique's President Daniel Chapo announced on Wednesday that he has agreed with US President Donald Trump to deepen bilateral cooperation across strategic areas including critical minerals and counter-terrorism, following a meeting on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Chapo disclosed the outcome of the encounter — the first confirmed face-to-face meeting between the two leaders — in a post on his official Facebook account accompanied by a photograph of both presidents taken in the United States.
"We agreed to continue working together and to explore mutually beneficial partnerships in areas such as critical minerals, agriculture, infrastructure and counter-terrorism," Chapo wrote.
The Mozambican president said he had discussed with Trump cooperation areas the two countries are already developing, with particular emphasis on infrastructure under the Second Compact for Mozambique delivered through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and its in-country vehicle, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), as well as US-funded health programmes.
The bilateral relationship has been warming for some time. The US government acknowledged as recently as February that Mozambique had become an "important source" of American investment in Africa and was on track to emerge as a significant supplier to the US market.
In an interview with the Lusa news agency in Maputo, during a working visit to Mozambique in February, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Sarah Troutman highlighted the impact of the resumption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
"They have definitely solidified Mozambique as an important source of US investment, and they will be major global suppliers of that resource. So we look forward to those projects coming online and we welcome the fact that TotalEnergies lifted the force majeure clause in October, following the terrorist attacks in 2021," Troutman said.
"We are pleased to see that project back on track — it carries significant US investment and significant involvement by American companies. And, of course, we are very excited about the ExxonMobil project, which is directly adjacent to it; we look forward to that coming online as well," she added.
US Export-Import Bank, the federal trade-finance institution, approved $4.7 billion in financing last year for TotalEnergies' $20 billion megaproject at Afungi, in Cabo Delgado — one of the largest single financing commitments the institution has made for an African energy venture.
ExxonMobil lifted its force majeure declaration for its own Cabo Delgado LNG megaproject in November, a prerequisite for the Final Investment Decision (FID) that the company has targeted for 2026.
The venture in question — Rovuma LNG — is one of the largest energy projects on the African continent, with an estimated value of $30 billion. It is proceeding in parallel with the TotalEnergies-led Area 1 project, which resumed following the armed insurgency attacks of 2021.
ExxonMobil plans to produce 18 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of LNG from Area 4. The TotalEnergies-led Area 1 project, meanwhile, is targeting first LNG deliveries in 2029 and a production capacity of 13 mtpa.
Beyond LNG, Troutman also flagged Mozambique's role as a critical minerals supplier. The Balama graphite mine in Cabo Delgado, operated by Australian company Syrah Resources, supplies raw material for electric-vehicle batteries — including for plants in the United States — and constitutes an "important source" of supply for the American market, she said.
In 2024, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the US government's development-finance institution, committed $150 million to support the Balama project's development.
"That is part of our effort, once again, to secure the flow of critical minerals to the United States," Troutman said.
A separate financing of $1.875 million was extended by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to a rare earth project at Monte Muambe in Tete province, further broadening Washington's footprint in Mozambique's extractive sector.
Bilateral trade between the two countries has fluctuated between $400 million and $600 million per year, according to the most recent available data.
Source: ANGOP / Original article: https://www.angop.ao/noticias/africa/chapo-e-trump-reforcam-cooperacao-em-areas-estrategicas/
