Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for updating the committee on the progress of his country over the last number of years and the strides that have been made. We are very proud of our development aid programme in Mozambique and it is good to see the country is less dependent on aid than it was a number of years ago. As the Minister rightly said, we have given €36 million to Mozambique this year, which is obviously there to support its people and reduce poverty.

We have seen the impact at first hand. We are aware of the importance of farmers being helped with expertise and providing assistance in other areas, including in dealing with the incidence of HIV-AIDS. All of this work is extremely important, in respect of which I thank His Excellency most sincerely. It is good to hear that the Department of Foreign Affairs in his country is considering opening a resident embassy here as soon as possible. That development would make a great difference, particularly in growing trade. It would also mean that there would be much more contact between the ambassador of Mozambique with this Parliament and Ministers here.

We have had a wide-ranging and interesting discussion in the past hour and I thank Mr. Marques Balói for giving of his time. I hope he has a very successful conference tomorrow when the Mozambique-Irish Business Forum will take place in Kilmainham. I hope it will lead to an increase in business and trade between our two countries. On his final day he be will taken to County Meath, which means that he will get to see a little more of Ireland than just Dublin. Perhaps when he returns, he might travel further afield. I wish him, his officials and all of the parliamentarians well. Parliamentarians play a very important role in democracy and we look forward to continued dialogue between our fellow parliamentarians.