Africa-Press – Angola. The Head of State, João Lourenço, on Monday in Luanda invited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its companies to participate in the 3rd Summit on Financing Infrastructure Development in Africa, scheduled to take place on October 23rd and 24th this year in the Angolan capital.
João Lourenço, who is also the pro tempore Chairperson of the African Union (AU), was speaking at the Presidential Palace during an official visit by the UAE President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as part of the strengthening of cooperative relations between the two countries.
The event that is promoted by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the African Union Commission (AUC), is an initiative of the AU and is expected to present investment opportunities in structural projects on the continent.
According to AU data, the continent faces an annual infrastructure gap of over USD 100 billion, with an estimated need of USD 1.3 trillion for the implementation of the Continental Power Systems Master Plan (CMP) and to support the Africa Single Electricity Market (AfSEM) by 2040.
The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) alone requires USD 16 billion annually for transformative projects by 2030.
Global Conflicts
In his speech, João Lourenço took the opportunity to address issues related to international security, reiterating the gravity of the war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the conflict in the Middle East, particularly the situation in Gaza, which he considered a “genocide against the Palestinian people.”
“The international community cannot continue to allow this to happen, otherwise we will become complicit in one of the greatest human tragedies on our planet”, he warned.
The Head of State also highlighted the conflicts in the Sahel region, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in Sudan as scenarios that requires urgent attention and concerted solutions between the international community and the African Union.
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