Qatar Airways said last week that it will introduce thrice-weekly flights to Mozambique, one of southern Africa's fastest-growing investment destinations.

The flights from Doha to the capital Maputo, with a stop in Johannesburg, start on 31 October.

"Whether in Africa, Europe, Asia, Middle East or Americas, we have identified great opportunities where other carriers dare not venture into," said the airline's chief executive Akbar al-Baker. "Mozambique is a great example of a market that we believe has great potential linking up with key feeder markets in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world."

Mozambique's Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Manuela Rebelo said however the deal was yet to be formalised.

"Nothing concrete has been signed," she told AFP.

Mozambique would be the airline's 20th destination in Africa. The former Portuguese colony, which remains one of the world's poorest countries nearly two decades after a devastating civil war, has recently attracted a flood of investment.

Its economy has regularly posted strong growth, estimated at 7.5 percent this year.

Foreign investment has been buoyed by recent discoveries of natural gas and growing exports of coal as well traditional commodities like wood, sugar and tobacco.

Some of the foreign airlines servicing Mozambique include Portugal's TAP, Angola's TAAG, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airways and South African Airways.

South African budget airlines kulula.com and 1time both launched flights to Mozambique last year, but have since pulled out of the route claiming government-imposed passenger quotas made it unprofitable.