Africa-Press – Angola. The Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, highlighted this Wednesday, in Mindelo (Cape Verde), that the energy transition, digital and environmental transformation without jeopardizing fair balances must be at the center of the priorities of the CPLP member states.
When speaking at the opening of the first international congress, Esperança da Costa said that countries and their organizations or companies must be intertwined with the digital transition, marked by the “Revolution 4.0, Big Data, 5G, Artificial Intelligence and algorithms”.
According to Esperança da Costa, all these technologies and tools are a window of opportunities for countries in the region, in terms of demand, the expansion of markets and the creation of jobs.
He said that CPLP Member States need to look at cooperation in technologies, to address the climate/oceans/biodiversity nexus, ensuring the necessary adaptation and building more resilient societies.
In this sense, he continued, strengthening cooperation should make it possible to reduce the loss of biodiversity caused by the impact of climate change, which creates social instability, aggravates conflicts, compromises the well-being of entire communities in many countries, and threatens the achievement of objectives. of sustainable development.
According to Esperança da Costa, in Angola, the Executive is committed to adapting and mitigating environmental phenomena, food and nutritional security and the conservation of different ecosystems, calling for the strengthening of scientific research and development, through increasingly robust policies and financing the material base.
The Angolan Government’s investments, he said, include the establishment of logistical and telecommunications infrastructures, to facilitate access and the digitalization process of different sectors, with emphasis on the creation of the “Angola Research Education Network” project, a network that it will allow for the interconnection of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), the creation of the Virtual University, the computerization of HEI services, as well as the promotion of digital skills.
The Angolan Executive, he stressed, recently approved, in the Council of Ministers, the Long-Term Development Strategy – Angola 2050, a central instrument of the National Planning System, consisting of axes of action with a set of commitments and goals that we propose to reach.
He made it known that the State intends to develop a society that values and enhances its human capital, modern and competitive infrastructures, and that has a diversified and prosperous economy, capable of promoting a resilient and sustainable ecosystem that guarantees a fair and equitable nation. equal opportunities.
Advances in higher education
In relation to higher education, Esperança da Costa highlighted the advances in this education subsystem, stating that Angola intends to take even more steps.
To this end, he highlighted, the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, recently authorized a fund established with the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education, with a view to increasing access to higher education, ensuring quality and strengthening management in the sector, focusing on new postgraduate courses, curricular harmonization and gender equity.
According to Esperança da Costa, the Executive also created the Foundation for Scientific and Technological Development (FUNDECIT) in charge of implementing Science, Technology and Innovation policies and carrying out the evaluation and accreditation of Scientific Research and Development Institutions.
He made it known that it is intended that the financing mechanism of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and its main management instruments respond to internationally established standards and help to strengthen them.
For Esperança da Costa, global challenges force the Angolan State to increasingly look at professional technical training and the increase in postgraduate courses in specialties, aiming to achieve highly qualified human capital in strategic and priority areas, such as Science, Technologies, Engineering, Mathematics and Arts (STEMA) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
“We are also committed to establishing a Space Industry that is up to current and future challenges and, certainly, the launch of AngoSat2 will help in establishing and accelerating the digital transition in Angola and its services in the different sectors of national life, including agriculture and in the value chain”, he highlighted.
Esperança da Costa said that Angola is also working on the creation of the Center of Excellence in the area of Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, in the province of Huambo, and on the establishment of the Pharmacognosy Laboratory, in Luanda, to value endogenous knowledge and harness the potential of the bioresource for the production of medicines.
According to the Vice-President, within the framework of investment in infrastructure and human capital training, Angola is focused on completing the Science and Technology Park and the Luanda Science Center, which will allow, once completed, for the implementation of the aims of Angola’s National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and the development strategy.
Regarding the congress, he said that it constitutes a unique opportunity for the exchange of experience and the construction of partnerships, since the formation of qualified human capital, with which the aim is to respond to priority development areas and the needs of society in the knowledge, calls for a holistic and articulated approach, in which the education and professional training segment communicates, cooperates and defines integrated intervention strategies.
According to the Vice-President, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions, in this era of artificial intelligence with a strong focus on investing in digital skills, necessary for current challenges.
According to Esperança da Costa, in this search for development, it is necessary to look at the demographic dividend given the need to build a fair, peaceful, inclusive and sustainable society, where innovation and competitiveness allow for higher rates of added value.
He invited the organizers of the event to hold the second edition of the congress in Luanda, Angola.
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