South Africa and Mozambique’s port authorities, the Transnet National Ports Authority and Maputo Ports Development Company, have agreed to further strengthen their bound by signing a landmark memorandum of understanding paving the way for increased cooperation between them, CEOAFRICA gathered from South Africa Info.

The signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) follows extensive talks and visits over an extended period of time.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, CEOAFRICA news reports according to South Africa Info. Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) chief executive, Tau Morwe said the MoU opened the way for collaboration in infrastructure development, engineering, training and marine services.

“We believe that in the spirit of cooperation, we can be exponentially more efficient and play a key role in lifting intra-regional trade within the southern African Development Community (SADC) region from its current level of 12 percent,” Morwe said, as reported by South Africa Info.

Furthermore, Morwe was quote saying “what we can achieve remains to be seen, but we should aspire to achieve the figures of other leading regional economic communities, such as those of Asian and Europe, where intra-regional trade is in the region of 60 percent.”

The Maputo Ports Development Company (MPDC) CEO Osorio Lucas said the MoU represented major potential for the two countries. He said, as quoted by South Africa Info. “it is an important step toward fostering greater intra-regional cooperation, which is a key priority of the SADC region and the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa),” Lucas said.