The Chinese civil aviation delegation led by Dong Zhiyi, Deputy Administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Mozambican civil aviation delegation led by Joao Abreu, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of Mozambique held bilateral aviation talks on March 21-22, 2019 in Maputo, Mozambique. The two sides negotiated over the text of the air services agreement between the two countries and arrangements of bilateral traffic rights, and reached agreement. The two sides also introduced respectively their civil aviation development and international air transport policies, and exchanged in-depth views on strengthening cooperation in various fields of civil aviation, establishing air routes and flights between the two countries as soon as possible, and the latest development of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). Following the talks, Dong Zhiyi and Joao Abreu signed the draft text of the air services agreement between the two countries and a memorandum of understanding on the arrangements of traffic rights between China and Mozambique.

The talks represent an important measure to actively implement the important consensus of President Xi Jinping’s meeting with President Nyusi of Mozambique and the follow-up work of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held last September. The signing of the relevant agreement will lay a legal foundation for the development of civil aviation relations between the two countries, facilitating commercial cooperation between Chinese and Mozambican airlines, and promoting launching of air routes and flights in the future. It will help to enable closer air links between the two countries, improve connectivity between the two sides, and advance the sustainable development of economic and trade cooperation and personnel exchanges between China and Mozambique and the central African region.