On Monday (Nov. 24), Brazil and Mozambique signed nine cooperation agreements to strengthen the latter’s institutional capacity in development, health care, education, diplomacy, entrepreneurship, trade, civil aviation, legal assistance, and agroforestry.

In Maputo, the capital of the African country, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he intends to restore the capacity of Brazil’s development bank BNDES to finance Brazilian companies abroad, benefiting both Brazil and partner nations like Mozambique.

“Mozambique is a developing country that still has infrastructure gaps to fill. Its growth depends on ports, roads, power plants, and transmission lines. Brazil has dynamic companies capable of making a contribution,” he said in a statement to the press alongside Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo.

In order to export these services, Lula believes that Brazil must offer credit options to finance the internationalization of the country’s businesses, which has already been done via BNDES.

The Brazilian delegation arrived in Maputo on Sunday (24) from Johannesburg, South Africa, where Lula participated in the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

The trip to Mozambique is part of the celebrations of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which are also partners in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).

The Ministry of Foreign Relations has also noted that, upon assuming his third term in 2023, the president made it clear that he would resume relations with African countries as a foreign policy priority.

“Brazil has lost its way down dark paths and, in the process, forgotten its ties with Africa. Many of the seeds we had sown did not have time to take root. But it is time to regain our conscience,” Lula declared.

In 2023, he visited South Africa, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. In 2024, he visited Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as receiving the president of Benin on an official visit. In 2025, he welcomed the presidents of Angola and Nigeria. In May this year, Brazil also hosted a meeting of agriculture ministers.

Trade

Mozambique is the largest beneficiary of Brazilian cooperation with resources from the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) in Africa, covering a wide range of areas – health care, agriculture, education, professional training, among others. Since 2015, 67 initiatives have been formed.

The two countries also plan to expand trade and investment. To this end, a forum was organized with Brazilian and Mozambican executives featuring panels on agribusiness, industry and innovation, and health care. Lula should participate in the closing ceremony of the event on Monday.

Trade between Brazil and Mozambique totaled USD 40.5 million in 2024, with Brazilian exports totaling USD 37.8 million and imports totaling USD 2.7 million.

The products exported consist mainly of fresh, frozen, or chilled poultry meat (41%), perfumery or toilet articles (4.7%), and furniture and parts thereof (5%). Imports consist mainly of ungraded or stemmed tobacco (95%).

The government understands that, despite limited trade flows, Brazil’s commercial and institutional relations with African countries are part of a political project to combine cooperation for the development and education of these nations.

Today, Lula cited, for example, the strengthening of the Brazilian health industrial complex, which will once again enable the production of pharmaceuticals and medicines in Mozambique.

The president also revealed that, in 2026, the Ministry of Education and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency will offer up to 80 places for training courses in agricultural sciences and up to 400 places for technical courses in agriculture to Mozambican employees. The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) will reinforce this initiative by training technicians from the African country.

“No one is better than Brazil to contribute to food security in Mozambique. With the right technology, we can increase productivity in the African savanna without compromising the environment,” he pointed out.

“With the same sense of priority, we are working to include Mozambique among the countries covered by the accelerated implementation phase of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty,” he added.

The Brazilian president also mentioned potential partnerships for forest conservation, energy transition, audiovisual and literary production, and efforts to against organized crime.

“The Brazilian government has been working intelligently to dismantle criminal networks and strangle their sources of financing. The Brazilian Federal Police is internationally recognized for its ability to track illicit assets and combat money laundering. It is available to share its experience and expand its collaboration with Mozambique,” Lula added.

In addition to the working meeting with President Daniel Chapo and the meeting with business leaders, Lula will receive an honorary doctorate from the Pedagogical University of Maputo.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday (Nov. 21) to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit, a group of the world’s largest economies. “The G20’s motto for 2025 is Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability, themes of fundamental importance for Brazil and the Global South,” Lula wrote in a post on social media this morning upon landing in the South African capital.

As president of the bloc in 2024, Brazil also has a prominent role in this edition of the summit, as it is part of the troika alongside South Africa and the United States, the next country to take over the forum. The troika is the cooperation mechanism among the current, previous, and next presidencies of the group to ensure continuity and preparation for the summit.

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In conducting the work, the South African presidency has listed four priorities for discussion: strengthening resilience and disaster response capacity; ensuring the sustainability of public debt in low-income countries; financing a just energy transition; and promoting the role of critical minerals as drivers of development and economic growth.

The G20 is the main forum for international economic cooperation, created in 1999. This year’s summit will be divided into three thematic sessions and will conclude with a leaders’ declaration. Among the expected advances, the document will outline the principles that must be observed in the extraction and processing of strategic minerals and rare earths.

On Saturday (22) morning, leaders will discuss sustainable economic growth, including development financing, trade, and public debt. In the afternoon, a session will be dedicated to climate change, disaster risk reduction, food security, and the energy transition. On Sunday (23), the discussions will turn to critical minerals, decent work, and artificial intelligence.

On the sidelines of the summit, President Lula is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the heads of state and officials in attendance, and on Sunday, a meeting is scheduled with the leaders of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum. The trilateral initiative was developed in 2003 to promote cooperation among countries in the Global South.

Mozambique

Lula will then travel to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, where he will make a working visit on Monday (24). The trip is part of the celebrations marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Mozambique is the largest beneficiary of Brazilian cooperation funded by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) in Africa, with initiatives spanning health, agriculture, education, professional training, and other areas, including structural projects. During the visit, cooperation in fields such as agriculture, entrepreneurship, health, education, and the fight against organized crime will be revisited.

The two countries also want to expand trade and investment. To this end, a business forum is being organized, with an attendance estimated at 150 to 200 Brazilian and Mozambican businesspeople, and panels on agribusiness, industry, innovation, and health.

Lula is expected to return to Brazil on Monday.