India to help Mozambique in mining, geology

India will help Mozambique systematically map its geological and mineral resources. This was decided at a meeting of high-level delegations of the two countries. The two countries also discussed ways of carrying forward bilateral cooperation in the field of mining and geology.

The Mozambique delegation was led by Esperanca Laurinda Bias, minister of mineral resources of the Republic of Mozambique while S Vijay Kumar, secretary to the mines ministry, led the Indian delegation.
 
Today's meeting focused on the findings of a technical expert's team that had suggested systematic geological and geochemical mapping and detailed exploration leading to scientific mining in selected areas in Mozambique.

Meanwhile, an experts team had stressed on the need for skill-level improvements training for the field sampling and laboratory studies.

The meeting also stressed the need for setting up a joint working group in the field of geology and mineral resources, which will identify, discuss, finalise, implement and monitor cooperation programme between the two countries in the mining sector.

The two governments had entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of geology and mineral resources during the visit of Mozambican President to India in September 2010.

A team of technical experts from India's ministry of mines also visited Mozambique to discuss the operational details for further cooperation with Mozambique during February 2011.