Mozambique President gets ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan

New Delhi, Sep 30 (ANI): Mozambique President Armando Guebuza, who is on a six-day visit of India, was on Thursday accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh were present on the occasion along with other dignitaries.

Talking to reporters, President Guebuza said: "India and Mozambique are having good relations and it needs to be strengthened further."

"There are opportunities for us to strengthen and to find ways of improving our relations. From the political and diplomatic point of view and cooperation, they are very good. Also, in terms of cooperation, in economy is good. "But we expect that it could be excellent, and I hope that will happen," he added.

This is Guebuza's first visit to India as President, though he had been to the country in 2003 when he was Transport Minister.

Cooperation between the two countries has expanded to new areas such as human resource development, energy, minerals, defence, railways, IT, science and technology and agriculture.

India is now the third largest trading partner of Mozambique with bilateral trade of almost 500 million dollars. It is also the fourth largest investor in that country.

India consistently lent support to Mozambique in its freedom struggle. India was, in fact, among the first countries to recognise and open its embassy in Mozambique, immediately after independence.

There are about 1,000 persons of Indian nationality and close to 20,000 persons of Indian origin in Mozambique. (ANI)