"We went 12 years without operating flights to Lisbon, and on December 12 we resumed flights, we submitted the request to the Portuguese customs authorities to have the EOR, the European Union authorisation document for the entry of cargo, and five months later we still haven't had a response. But cargo from Lisbon to Maputo goes normally", said Sérgio Matos.

Speaking to Lusa on the sidelines of the Mozambique-Portugal Business Forum, which is taking place this afternoon at the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon, the manager responsible for the restructuring of Mozambique Airlines (LAM) stressed that the problem is the lack of response and the delay in information provided by the Portuguese authorities.

"The process was submitted, maybe this is the normal delay time, but as we have no information, we are becoming concerned, because we are entering the fifth month of operation and we have no authorisation to bring cargo from Mozambique to Portugal", he added.

The aircraft, with a capacity of 32 tonnes, flies empty of cargo from Maputo to Lisbon, but goes full from Lisbon to Maputo, he said.

"Our traders in Mozambique are impatient because they think it is a ban by the Portuguese so that they do not bring in cargo, benefiting only Portuguese traders, but we, as LAM, do not see the issue like that, we just wanted to know the minimum or maximum period it takes to get the authorisation", added Sérgio Matos.

Asked whether TAP, which also operates direct flights between Lisbon and Maputo, has authorisation to carry and bring cargo, the official said yes.

Earlier, the president of the Confederation of Business Associations of Mozambique (CTA), Agostinho Vuma, had asked the governments to harmonise the legislation that promotes trade relations and to remove obstacles and announced the impossibility of Mozambican exports to Portugal through LAM.

"That they harmonise business incentive measures for greater fluidity in Portuguese-Mozambican business, for example, after the introduction of measures and economic acceleration that allowed greater demand for tourism, there was an opportunity to resume direct flights between Lisbon and Maputo, but the lack of authorisation by the tax authority to send cargo from Maputo to Lisbon is a problem", said Agostinho Vuma during his speech at the opening session of the Forum.

"Cargo from Lisbon to Maputo can go, it is allowed, but Portuguese customs does not allow Mozambican companies to send their goods to Portuguese soil", he lamented, stressing that "this appeal is a way of materialising our mutually advantageous relationship, of 'win-win'".

Asked about the number of passengers on the operation to Lisbon, resumed in December last year, Sérgio Matos told Lusa that the occupancy rate of flights from Maputo to Lisbon is above 80%, representing between 260 and 280 people on each of the two weekly flights, while from Lisbon to Maputo there are between 200 and 240 passengers per flight.

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