Africa-Press – Angola. President João Lourenço invited, on Friday, in Lisbon, the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, to visit Angola, if possible, in July this year.
The invitation was formulated during a meeting between the two Heads of Government, which took place at the São Bento Palace, the official residence of the Portuguese Prime Minister.
Speaking to the press, at the end of the meeting, the Holder of the Executive Branch informed that the Joint Intergovernmental Commission will meet, in the coming months, in Lisbon, to discuss Luís Montenegro’s visit to Angola.
João Lourenço recalled that he is in Lisbon as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the “history of April 25, 1974” and understood that this was a good opportunity to have a first working meeting with Luís Montenegro.
“We agreed to hold the meeting of the Mixed Intergovernmental Commission here in Lisbon, which will, among other things, prepare the visit to Luanda of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who has just received my invitation to, if possible, (do so ) in July”, announced President João Lourenço.
He added that this is a program that the two Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Joint Commission of Angola and Portugal will prepare for this important occasion.
According to João Lourenço, relations between the two countries “are at their best”, although, he argued, they must have the obligation to never feel satisfied.
“We have to be ambitious to the point of wanting more, more and more”, he insisted. Strengthening friendly and cooperative relations is, however, a reciprocal ambition of Angola and Portugal, assured the Angolan President, who promised to work not only on bilateral issues, but also to “align our positions on international policy issues that concern the world, Angola and Portugal”.
Portuguese government wants to continue the Strategic Cooperation Program
The Portuguese Prime Minister said it was his Government’s intention to continue the Strategic Cooperation Program with Angola.
When speaking to the press, at the end of the meeting with President João Lourenço, Luís Montenegro assured that cooperation between Angola and Portugal and their respective peoples will continue.
“I had the opportunity to give the President of Angola an overview of our intentions – of the Government of Portugal – to maintain this path of close relationship between our Governments in many areas, such as Culture, Education and economic relations, which we all have interested in going deeper as well”, he said.
Luís Montenegro said it was the intention of both countries to hold, in the coming months, a meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission, in Lisbon, to continue the Strategic Cooperation Program and to be able to deepen commercial relations between Portugal and Angola.
With this, it will be possible to provide Portuguese companies with even more intense conditions for their activity in Angola and also provide Angolan companies with equal opportunities in Portugal.
“Today we have many Portuguese companies operating in priority and strategic areas in Angola in the agri-food, textile, pharmaceutical, tourism, construction, renewable energy and technological areas and we are very interested in continuing to follow this common path”, he reiterated.
Luís Montenegro also stated that Portugal and Angola also have every interest in being able to consolidate these positions, in a framework that is not only bilateral, but also multilateral.
From this point of view, he said, he will have the opportunity to continue interacting with President João Lourenço, cooperating with Angola within the framework of the relationship with the European Union, the CPLP, the United Nations and the G20.
Montenegro recalled that Angola and Portugal were invited by Brazil to participate in the G20 work this year.
“For this reason, Mr President, on this occasion, I would like to express to you, once again, on behalf of the Portuguese people, gratitude for your availability, for your work, for your cooperation, for your friendship, looking at what we have done, but above all for what we are going to do”, expressed the Portuguese Prime Minister.
Luís Montenegro said that it was thinking about the future, about the well-being of the Angolans and the Portuguese that he received and welcomed, in São Bento, João Lourenço (as Holder of the Executive Power), “in the hope that our relations, the stronger are, the more productive they will be for the quality of life of our people”.
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