Economics Minister Doris Leuthard has held talks in Bern with the president of Mozambique, Armando Emilio Guebuza.

The meeting marks 30 years of bilateral relations between the two countries. Today, Swiss aid amounts to around SFr30 million ($27.6 million) a year.

Leuthard and Guebuza on Tuesday discussed the economic situation in Mozambique as well as the upcoming autumn elections.

Since 1979 Mozambique, which has a population of around 20 million and a GDP per capita last year of $465 (SFr505), has been one of the focal countries of Swiss cooperation and development.

Switzerland recognised Mozambique on the day the latter declared independence from Portugal on June 25, 1975. Switzerland opened an embassy in the capital, Maputo, in 1977.

One of the main areas of cooperation concerns implementation of the programme of the Mozambique government to combat poverty, which Switzerland, together with 18 other donor countries, supports with budgetary aid and active political dialogue.

Economic relations, however, remain modest: Swiss exports to Mozambique last year totalled SFr11 million and imports SFr13 million.

According to the Swiss foreign ministry, 150 Swiss live in Mozambique.

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