Mozambique is calling for investment from Vietnam into many sectors, said a high-ranking senior state of official of the Southeast African country at a recent business forum in Ho Chi Minh City.

Agriculture, industrial production, infrastructures, finance/ banking, seafood processing, mining, and telecommunications are potential fields that the Mozambique government is offering many incentives for foreign investors, said Gamilied Munguambe, Mozambican ambassador to Vietnam at Vietnam -Mozambique Business Forum.

Those sectors are all ready to welcome investors from Vietnam, he said at the event organized by the Vietnam Chamber of Industry and Trade (VCCI) to introduce the investment opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises in the African country.

Vietnamese businesses investing in Mozambique will be entitled to other incentives including preferential land use fee/tax and corporate income tax under the provisions of the country’s Investment Law, said Aiuba Cuereneia, Minister of Planning and Development of Mozambique.

Specifically, prior to 2015, businesses will be reduced by 100 percent corporate income tax. The rate will be halved for the 2016-2020 period, he said.

The government of Mozambique will also consider building at least one special economic zone for Vietnamese businesses operating in agricultural sector.

Mozambique will create favorable conditions, including granting special visas to Vietnamese individuals who want to study investment opportunities in the country, said Lourenco Sambo, Director of Mozambique Investment Promotion Center in Vietnam.

Mozambique is one of the ten largest export markets of Vietnam in Africa.

Vietnam’s main export items to the African country are rice, cement, and electronic parts. Among them, rice is the biggest earner with 42 percent of Vietnam’s export values to in 2012.

The country mainly imports raw cashew nuts and processed wood products from Mozambique.

The two countries, which are expecting to sign agreements on investment protection and for avoiding double taxation in a near future, have cooperated in many sectors for many years.

In 2010, the military-run Viettel Telecom Corp won the bid to be a mobile service in Mozambique. As the field of agricultural production, a few years ago, Vietnamese professor Vo Tong Xuan came there to teach rice cultivation techniques to local people.

Although Mozambique is a potential market for Vietnamese businesses operating in the agricultural sector, many businesses have yet invested there because of the technical barriers or infrastructure problems.

Specifically, previously, many enterprises of Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) have planned to set up onsite cashew processing plants instead of importing raw cashew to Vietnam for processing. But the plan failed as the banking system in Mozambique could not offer necessary financial services for it.