The burgeoning business ties between India and Zambia has acquired a new momentum with the Mozambique government approving a license for Coal India Ltd (CIL) to prospect and mine for coal in two blocs in the coal0rich area of Moatize, in the western province of Tete, said a report in the Maputo daily "Noticias March 18.

The government has approved the mining licence for India’s coal firm and prospecting is set to begin soon, Noticias newspaper reported.

Exploration is expected to last more than two years.

The two blocs (A1 and A2) granted to the Indian company occupy an area of 200 square kilometres. estimated reserves of between 500 million and one billion tonnes of thermal and coking coal.

Coal India says that 85 per cent of the extracted coal will be exported to India, and the Mozambican government is preparing to sign an agreement with the company to ensure that the remaining 15 per cent will be used inside Mozambique.

Mozambique awarded rights to the blocks to Coal India following a public tender in 2008. A Mozambican company won rights to a third block.

It's not just business that is driving growing ties between the two countries. Political and strategic ties are also becoming equally important.

Underlining its solidarity with India, Mozambique's foreign minister strongly condemned the Mumbai terror attacks and agreed to firm up bilateral counter-terror cooperation when he visited India Feb 19.

"We strongly condemn the Mumbai attacks. We know quite well the suffering and bloodshed means," Mozambique's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Oldemiro Baloi told reporters at a joint press conference with India's Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma.

Baloi also underlined the need for the two countries and the international community to work together to make the world a safer and stable place.

Underlining his country's belief in the need for reform of the UN Security Council, Baloi said it counted on India's experience and commitment to carry forward this process.

Sharma also spoke about cooperation between India and African countries to make the UN a truly representative and democratic institution that reflects the realities of the 21st century.

The two ministers held the second joint commission meeting and later signed a pact on reciprocal promotion and protection of bilateral investment - a step that is expected to intensify business engagement between the two countries. They also signed a document recording the deliberation of the second joint commission.

The two sides discussed a wide array of bilateral issues including ways and means to expand cooperation in areas ranging from energy, infrastructure and trade to capacity building, educational exchanges and promoting people-to-people contacts between the two countries.

The two countries have identified energy, IT, technology, railways and transport infrastructure as important areas of collaboration.

--Indo-Asian News Service