Mozambique: Antiretroviral Factory in Production By August

Maputo, 23 January 2012 (allAfrica.com) — The outgoing Brazilian ambassador, Antonio de Sousa e Silva, on Monday assured Mozambican reporters that the pharmaceutical plant to produce anti-retroviral drugs, which is being built with Brazilian support, will begin its operations in the second half of this year.

Speaking after an audience granted by President Armando Guebuza, Sousa e Silva said that the calendar for building the factory in the southern city of Matola is on schedule, and it should start production in July or August.

Work on the factory building should be ready by February, he said, and as from February the pharmaceutical equipment will be installed allowing production to begin five or six months later.

Sousa e Silva, who was bidding Guebuza farewell after a four year tour of duty in Maputo, said that the construction of the anti-retroviral factory was the major event in cooperation between Brazil and Mozambique in those four years.

Summarising relations between the two countries, he said that over the past four years the pace of cooperation has picked up, "and I am very satisfied".

"What is important is to continue working, and instead of doing a lot, concentrate on fewer but better things", the ambassador added.

Cooperation had advanced well at the economic level, he said, and total investment by Brazilian companies in Mozambique is now around 5.3 billion US dollars.

The largest investment is five billion dollars from the mining giant Vale, which is operating an open cast coal mine in Moatize district, in the western province of Tete.

In addition Vale is committed to building a railway from Moatize, across Malawi, to link up with the existing line to the northern Mozambican port of Nacala, generally regarded as the best deep water port on the east African coast.

Source: allAfrica.com