Africa-Press – Angola. Angolan president João Lourenço, highlighted on Saturday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, the progress achieved during Angola’s presidency of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OASCP), emphasizing the strengthening of strategic partnerships, institutional modernization, and the affirmation of a new cooperation model.
Speaking at the opening of the organization’s XI Summit, the Head of State stressed that, during Angola’s term, it was possible to renew and deepen the partnership with the European Union, materialized with the signing of the Samoa Agreement, which entered into force in a timely manner.
The Angolan president said that this instrument allowed for the holding, in Luanda, of the first Joint Parliamentary Assembly between the two organizations, a milestone that contributed to consolidating relations based on mutual respect, shared responsibility, and a convergent strategic ambition.
João Lourenço highlighted that the Angolan presidency also promoted the redefinition of the bilateral cooperation model, focusing on concrete and measurable results for citizens, with emphasis on the commitment to youth as an engine for the sustainable transformation of economies.
According to the President, the involvement of young people is a central element in facing climate and energy challenges, in an international context marked by multiple crises.
The statesman also discussed the decision to abandon the assistance partnership model, replaced by a strategic approach between regions with shared global responsibilities, in defense of a more balanced and dynamic multilateralism.
In the institutional field, he pointed to the creation and operationalization of the Troika as one of the relevant advances, a mechanism that has ensured greater political participation at the highest level in decisions on sensitive issues of the organization.
Lourenço recalled the common position adopted on the crisis in Haiti, expressed in a declaration that recognizes the contributions of member states to the multinational mission to support security in that country, and called for strengthening the involvement of the United Nations to ensure greater effectiveness and sustainability of international action.
The president highlighted the creation of the OASCP Champion for Financial Resource Mobilization role, assumed by King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Eswatini, an initiative aimed at diversifying funding sources and reducing the organization’s structural vulnerability.
In terms of internal governance, João Lourenço spoke of the advances in modernizing the OASCP’s institutional structure, with measures that ensure the regular functioning of the Secretariat, led by Moussa Saleh Batraki, and reinforce financial discipline, transparency, and accountability.
During his speech, the Head of State expressed confidence in the leadership of the Secretary-General and spoke of his commitment to implementing a new strategic orientation, based on financial sustainability and institutional efficiency.
The statesman underscored that the world is facing a period of uncertainty, in which the unity and coordinated action of States are essential for the promotion of peace, stability, the regular functioning of the global economy, the protection of the environment, and respect for International Law.
He also warned of the persistence of practices associated with the control of strategic natural resources, such as oil, gas, and critical minerals, which continue to influence intervention dynamics in various regions of the world.
“We, the peoples of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, having lived through centuries of bitter experience, know that the same motivations that were at the base of colonialism, that of the control and plunder of our riches, unfortunately persist in the 21st century,” Lourenço said.
He added that, with the most diverse arguments, but with the same objectives, those of controlling the planet’s main energy sources, oil, gas, and critical and strategic minerals, military interventions are carried out anywhere on the planet.
The 11th OACPS Summit brings together Heads of State and Government of member countries, with the aim of evaluating the organization’s trajectory and defining new strategies for strengthening cooperation between Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The meeting in Malabo marks the end of Angola’s presidency of the organization, with the consequent handover to the new leader.
Founded on June 6, 1975, in Georgetown, Guyana, the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific states aimed, at the time, to strengthen ties with Europe, uniting countries that shared a common history of colonialism.
In 2019, the group formed by countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific was renamed the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, with the former Angolan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, serving as Secretary-General.
