Africa-Press – Angola. The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said this Friday, in Luanda, that his country is the ideal partner to help leverage the strategy of diversification of the Angolan economy, especially in the food industry sector.
Speaking on the occasion of official talks between the two governments, the Brazilian Head of State said that the country has technological knowledge and public policies to share with Angola, in the field of food security.
Lula da Silva said that the two States face common challenges in this domain and announced the implementation of a joint action plan between the respective Ministries of Agriculture, without specifying the time horizon.
According to the Brazilian President, a program is already being developed in the Cunene Valley, with 25 actions that complement each other, whose aim is to promote agricultural development on the African continent, particularly in Angola.
The program, he explained, ranges from agricultural research to fundraising for the implementation of credit policies for small producers, thus being a new paradigm in his country’s cooperation with Africa.
“The Cunene Valley is similar to the São Francisco Valley in Brazil, a region cyclically affected by droughts, which has become a food producing pole”, explained Lula da Silva, stressing that his country will seek partners in the Brazilian private sector. , to complete the necessary irrigation structure for Cunene.
As countries with tropical forests, he said, Brazil and Angola need to find solutions for sustainable development, reconciling environmental protection with the well-being of their populations, and Angola can join the effort started at the Amazon Summit, in Belém, in the beginning of this month.
He highlighted the start, last May, of the production of the first green pig iron steel plant, in Cuando Cubango province, based on charcoal, produced from the flourishing of 60,000 hectares of degraded land.
In the field of Tourism, he said that the efforts of the two countries are going in the same direction, so that Brazilian undertakings will bring sustainable practices, such as desalination of sea water and effective treatment of solid waste.
Lula da Silva highlighted, on the other hand, the fact that Brazil had supported Angola in the past, in strategic sectors, such as infrastructure and energy, including during the war, underlining that Angola has always been its biggest bridge in Africa.
Still, he said the continent has been treated with indifference in recent years, resulting in the abandonment of multilateral cooperation. “We stopped acting together in international forums, now we are going to correct these mistakes”, he stressed.
He declared that this, his first state visit to an African country since he resumed power, symbolizes Brazil’s return to Africa.
In the field of Health, he said that the two countries resumed two fronts of great impact, strengthened the policy of prevention and diagnosis and treatment of leprosy (infectious disease) in Angola, having announced the first medicine factory in the country, the result of a consortium of three Brazilian companies and from the Private Investment and Export Promotion Agency (AIPEX). markets, he added.
In the education sector, progress was made on the implementation of a project called Escola de Todos, which will increase access, permanence and learning of students in the Angolan education system, including people with disabilities.
Lula da Silva indicated that science and research will also be part of the cooperation, and data processing and information technology agencies will develop joint efforts concerning intellectual capital.
In his opinion, Angola has the conditions to become the defense hub in Africa, with the acquisition of aircraft, and the revitalization of the fleet of toucans and super toucans would bring technology transfer.
He stated that the Brazilian naval industry can support the modernization of the Angolan Navy, adding that the two States addressed the issue of financing Brazilian export operations, which is essential to leverage the economic partnership of the two States.
In another aspect, Lula da Silva highlighted the role of President João Lourenço in the pacification of the conflict involving the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
The President of the Federative Republic of Brazil took the opportunity to invite his counterpart João Lourenço to participate in the G20 Summit, to be held in December of this year.
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