Maputo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met President of the Mozambique National Assembly Veronica Macamo and invited her to lead a parliamentary delegation to India.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Modi and Macamo exchanged views on the practices and procedures of their respective Parliaments.
“Prime Minister lauded the fact that 93 out of 250 Mozambican parliamentarians were women,” Swarup said.
Modi alluded to the visit of a Mozambican Parliamentary delegation to study India’s electoral system in general and electronic voting machines in particular.
“He invited Macamo to lead a delegation to India and also called for the formation of a group of young parliamentarians from both countries,” the Spokesperson said.
The Prime Minister also signed the visitors book in the National Assembly in which he wrote: “India and Mozambique have shed colonial legacies to chart new democratic courses. The Assembly of the Republic plays a vital role in guiding Mozambique in this journey. I bring with me the best wishes of 1.25 billion Indians who share the democratic spirit with the people of Mozambique.”
India and Mozambique on Thursday signed three agreements, including one on purchase of pulses, following delegation level talks led by Modi and Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi.
Nyusi also hosted a banquet in honour of the visiting Indian Prime Minister.
Earlier on Thursday, Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome after his arrival in Maputo on the first leg of his four-nation Africa tour,.
Later in the day, he is scheduled to interact with students at the Science and Technology Park at Maluana, near here, and with members of the Indian community before leaving for South Africa in the evening.
This is Modi’s first official visit to mainland Africa and is also the first prime ministerial visit from India to Mozambique in 34 years since the visit of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1982.
Apart from Mozambique and South Africa, he will also visit Tanzania and Kenya during his African sojourn.
—-IANS