Maputo, July 14, 2026 (Lusa) - The president of Mozambique has challenged Portuguese business leaders to invest in Mozambique now, at a time when mega-projects worth $50 billion (€43.8 billion) in the gas sector are moving forward, emphasising that the present moment offers the ideal opportunity.
“I invite Portuguese business leaders to take a stand, because the time is now. Seizing the moment will secure a timely advantage,” Daniel Chapo, who is leaving for Lisbon on Tuesday for an official visit, said in an interview with Lusa.
In Portugal, the head of state will take part on Wednesday in the EurAfrican Forum in Cascais, organised by the Portuguese Diaspora Council, alongside the Portuguese President, António José Seguro.
The visit comes in a year of on-the-ground progress on the three Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) mega-projects in the Rovuma basin, in northern Mozambique.
Chapo, who in other roles has overseen the development of major projects in the country over the last twenty years, such as the coal project in Tete province and the launch of the LNG project in Cabo Delgado, has no doubt that the implementation phase, as is currently the case with the gas project, is what enables companies to “make money” through subcontracting.
Hence, the challenge for Portuguese businesspeople: “Land needs to be cleared, equipment needs to be procured, construction work and logistics organised, and resources or food supplies provided. This is where the project, so to speak, really distributes the money to everyone”.
“I continue to invite Portuguese businesspeople to establish a presence in Mozambique at this time. We are ushering in a new era. We are implementing various reforms to create a favourable business environment. So, we are now inviting them to really establish a presence here,” he added.
“Taking all the projects together, we are talking about around 50 billion dollars to be invested over the next five to ten years in Mozambique. That is why I say we are at a good juncture: it is a new era in which it is important for domestic and foreign investors, especially our Portuguese community, to establish a presence in Mozambique now. They can secure a strong position by acting today,” he said.
Service provision, transport, logistics, infrastructure construction and project support services are opportunities opening up in Mozambique at this stage. “And we believe these are areas in which Portuguese companies deliver high-quality services in a timely manner, which is why I was saying that now is the time for us to establish a presence.”
The focus on energy, and Mozambique’s aim to establish itself as an energy hub for southern Africa, should also attract Portuguese investment, with new dams, solar and gas-fired power stations, Chapo said, adding that the country has the “assets”.
“Mozambique has sunshine from January to December, and we believe, without a doubt, that clean energy is extremely important for the development of the country and the region, and we would like to invite you to invest. So, in short, Mozambique has the ‘assets’. And we have demand – a huge market across the region,” he emphasised.
Transport and logistics – such as the substantial investments planned for ports in the south, centre and north of the country, in infrastructure, roads, pipelines for transporting fuel, and planned special economic zones or industrial free zones – should also attract Portuguese interest, said Chapo.
“I would like to invite Portuguese businesspeople to invest not only in the construction sector, but particularly in transport and logistics, given Mozambique’s geographical location,” said the Head of State, citing, by way of example, the desire to attract Portuguese companies to the agriculture, tourism, industry and blue economy sectors.
“Industrial estates and special economic zones, so that we can process goods in Mozambique and export from Mozambique – not only to Portugal, but to the entire European Union market, comprising all 27 member states, as well as to other continents such as Asia, the United States and other parts of the world. But Portugal is our focus, because it is our traditional development partner,” he concluded.
The Deputy Minister for State Reform, Gonçalo Matias, stated on 10 June in Maputo that the partnership with Mozambique is one of the “most solid” that Portugal has, highlighting that, economically speaking, more than 1,100 companies export to the Mozambican market.
He highlighted the volume of Portuguese direct investment in Mozambique, which exceeds €2 billion, placing the country “among the top eight destinations for Portuguese investment worldwide”, and noted that in 2025 Portuguese exports of goods and services to Mozambique “stood at over €500 million”.
Portugal is Mozambique’s seventh-largest supplier, with more than 1,100 active Portuguese exporting companies operating in this market, accounting for trade in goods which, in 2025, exceeded €193 million.
More than 40,000 Portuguese citizens are currently registered with the consular network in Mozambique, and over 400 Portuguese-owned companies operate in the country, according to official figures.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
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