Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has inaugurated the Mozambique-China Cultural Centre, a US$70 million gift from the Chinese government, AIM reports.
Chinese company Yanjian Group began construction on the facility, which is located on the main campus of Eduardo Mondlane University in the Mozambican capital of Maputo, in 2018. Inaugurated last week, the 20,000-square-metre building consists of an auditorium with seating for 1,500 people, as well as several rooms suitable for everything from musical shows to corporate events.
Nyusi praised the centre as a platform for the dissemination of arts and culture in Mozambique that will also strengthen the cultural partnership between his country and China. The centre, in his words, “will shorten the distance between the culture of the two countries.”
[See more: Mozambique hails ‘very strong bilateral cooperation’ with China]
The new centre should also prove a boost to the cultural and creative industry that has developed in Mozambique over the last few decades. It “constitutes a historic milestone for the national creative industry,” said Moreira Chonguica, president of the Confederation of Economic Associations’ cultural department.
He added that the centre “seals the highest moment of cultural diplomacy between the Mozambican and Chinese peoples”.
The inauguration of the centre coincided with the 10th anniversary of China’s keystone Belt and Road Initiative.
