Nearly 1,700 Chinese people were hired to work in Mozambique last year, said the Chinese Embassy in Mozambique, quoting figures from the Mozambican Ministry of Labour.

China was the fourth largest supplier of foreign workers to Mozambique last year.

In 2014, a total of 1,668 Chinese were hired to work in the African country, accounting for 9.8 percent of the total foreign workers hired that year.

Portuguese workers represented 21.4 percent, or 3,709 workers, of the total foreign contingent. South Africa and India ranked second and third respectively, with 2,859 and 1,993 workers moving to Mozambique last year.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Planning and Development of Mozambique announced that foreign direct investment in the country totalled US$16 billion during the 2010-2014 period. Most projects were related to coal, oil and natural gas production.