India, Mozambique trade doubles

Trade between Mozambique and India has doubled from 6.31 million U.S. dollars in 2010 to 1.28 billion dollars in 2012, a government minister said on Friday. Mozambique's Deputy Mineral Resources Minister Abdul Razak said that this was due to good economic relations between the two countries and boosted by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza's visit to India two years ago. The figure was revealed at an on- going India-Mozambique business forum in Maputo. Razak said Indian businessmen have a lot of opportunities to grab in Mozambique over the fields of mineral resources, transport, energy, health, and technology, among others. "Investment climate in our country is excellent", said the minister, adding that "Mozambique is open to direct foreign investment." Razak also said that Mozambique has a huge potential, such as natural gas with reserves attaining around 160 trillion cubic feet, and coal deposite of about 20 billion metric tonnes. Mozambique has been exporting power to its energy-thirty neighbors. India's Jindal is also exploiting coal in Mozambique's coal- rich province of Tete and exporting it back to India.