Maputo, June 25, 2026 (Lusa) - Brazil wishes to cooperate with Mozambique on risk and natural disaster management through a mechanism that is unprecedented in Africa, which includes a formal proposal already submitted to the Mozambican Government to establish a legal framework for bilateral cooperation.
The intention was announced in Maputo by the director of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), Ruy Pereira, following a meeting with the minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Maria Manuela Lucas, as part of the implementation of the Programme for the Integrated Development of Mozambique (PCDI), agreed by Presidents Daniel Chapo and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“We are here today (Wednesday) to present to the minister and the ministry a proposal for additional adjustments drawn up by Brazil so that we can reach agreements in the area of risk and disaster management,” said Ruy Pereira, highlighting this area as one of the new fronts for cooperation between the two countries.
According to Mr Pereira, the proposal follows on from the experience gained by both countries in responding to extreme events, including cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which struck Mozambique in 2019, and recent climate-related disasters in Brazil, such as the floods in Rio Grande do Sul and the drought in the Amazon.
“The example of cyclones Idai and Kenneth back in 2019, which led us to carry out Brazil’s first multidisciplinary humanitarian assistance mission abroad – something we had never done before,” said the ambassador, arguing that cooperation in this area has become more urgent given the worsening impacts of climate change.
Ruy Pereira added that Brasília hopes to formalise, in the near future, a supplementary agreement with Mozambique, designed to provide a legal framework for bilateral cooperation in the area of risk and disaster management, involving technical and institutional support between the two countries.
“We hope to be able to sign this supplementary agreement shortly to effectively establish an appropriate legal framework for cooperation between our two countries in terms of risk and disaster management,” he said, adding that “it will be the first mechanism of this nature with an African country”.
In addition to the area of disaster management, the PCDI already includes seven priority initiatives agreed by the two heads of state, spanning the sectors of agriculture, health, education and technical and vocational training, support for entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as cooperation for the creation of the Development Bank of Mozambique, a process in which Brazil plans to involve the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).
The director of ABC also noted that Mozambique is among Brazil’s main African partners in terms of cooperation for sustainable development, within a framework that currently involves 42 initiatives under implementation, and argued that the PCDI should function as a permanent instrument to provide “greater organisation, coordination, coherence and speed” to bilateral cooperation.
On 19 March, the Mozambican Government announced that Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development would provide technical and institutional support for the creation of the future Development Bank of Mozambique, as part of economic cooperation between the two countries, during a visit by the Mozambican minister of finance to Brasília.
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