Africa-Press – Angola. The relationship between Angola and Portugal is reflected in multidimensional cooperation, in the political-diplomatic and socioeconomic domains, a consultation amplified in the different multilateral frameworks.
The areas of health, education, justice, people’s mobility, security and defense are the preferred areas of this contact, according to the Portuguese ambassador to Angola, Francisco Alegre Duarte.
With Camões – Institute of Cooperation and Language, bilateral cooperation has been framed, in recent years, by strategic programs whose last cycle was signed last year in Luanda.
The Portuguese diplomat says that this is work that has been continuously deepened, always in conjunction with various partners, namely sectoral ministries, the European Union (EU) and civil society.
On a social level, one of the relevant programs, the result of this partnership, is Strengthening Resilience and Food and Nutritional Security in Angola (FRESAN), financed by the EU, with 65 million euros, and co-managed with the Camões Institute.
This joint initiative aims to reduce hunger, poverty and vulnerability in communities affected by drought and climate change in the south of the country, in the provinces of Cunene, Huíla and Namibe.
Bet on education and defense
In the education sector, the investment in the Portuguese School of Luanda (EPL), among other actions, stands out.
Since the Portuguese State, through the Ministry of Education, assumed its direct management, EPL has established itself as a reference for stability and quality in teaching, currently welcoming two thousand and 100 students.
In the pipeline is the creation of the Escola Portuguesa do Lubango, as an EPL hub, with an impact on strengthening the business presence in this city, along with the launch of works for the construction of the new Consulate-General in Benguela, which should take place soon.
These are, for ambassador Francisco Alegre, “concrete signs” that Portugal views its presence in Angola in a comprehensive manner and not just limited to the capital, given that it believes in the harmonious development of the country.
The diplomat also made special mention of cooperation in the field of defense, which is a fundamental axis of bilateral cooperation.
“As this is a strategic and sovereign area, the proximity between Portuguese and Angolan military structures is particularly symbolic.”
In his opinion, the depth of this relationship owes a lot to the military, who work every day in the field, promoting the exchange of experiences and developing training actions, with great professionalism.
As an example of this hard work by the military, he cited his findings during visits to different projects in the field of defense, such as, in particular, the Special Forces Brigade, in Cabo Ledo, and the Fuzileiros Base in Ambriz.
Mobility
With a Portuguese community that exceeds 100 thousand people, the majority of whom hold dual nationality, and a community in Portugal that already exceeds 30 thousand Angolans, it is natural that mobility is a mainstay of the relationship between both countries.
The Consulate General of Portugal in Luanda is, in fact, the largest visa issuing center in the entire Portuguese diplomatic network, in Angola, which encompasses an embassy, two consulates general (Luanda and Benguela) and two honorary consulates (Lubango and Cabinda).
The main province in which the Portuguese settle is Luanda, followed by Benguela, while the main professional activities of the Portuguese community are civil construction, consultancy, hotels, restaurants and small commerce.
In turn, Angola has an embassy in the Portuguese capital and consulates general in the cities of Lisbon and Porto.
The CPLP Mobility Agreement, signed in Luanda, on July 17, 2021, was a fundamental piece in increasing the movement of people within the CPLP space and consolidating relations between Member States, reinforcing the dimension of community citizenship.
“We remain committed to deepening the themes of labor mobility and social protection policies, in line with the commitments made within the scope of the CPLP”, said the diplomat in a recent speech on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 25th April Revolution.
The ambassador argues that this was why the Governments of Portugal and Angola signed, in May 2023, the “Benguela Commitment”, providing for the entry into force of the Convention on Social Security, on January 1, 2024.
He mentioned that this commitment has not yet been fulfilled, but that the Portuguese side remains committed to dialogue with the Angolan authorities, “so that we can guarantee reciprocity of rights in this matter”.
Economic relationship
The dense economic interconnection that unites the two peoples results from deep empathy in human, emotional, linguistic and cultural terms.
Almost five thousand Portuguese companies export to Angola, having reached, in 2023, 2.2 billion euros in goods and services exported to Angola (one euro is equivalent to around 900 kwazas).
This performance kept Portugal, right after China, as the second main supplier to the Angolan market, alongside the more than 1,250 companies with Portuguese or mixed capital, which operate and invest in almost all sectors of the Angolan economy.
Construction companies are the spearheads of Portugal’s economic presence in Angola, employing tens of thousands of workers, the vast majority of whom are Angolan citizens.
Agri-food and agro-industrial, renewable energy, manufacturing industry, banking, information and telecommunications technologies, metalworking, water, sanitation, and the pharmaceutical sector also join the range of Portuguese businesses.
“We trust and believe in Angola. It was in this sense, in fact, that we gave an important signal, in 2023, with the extension of the ceiling of the financing line, under the Portugal-Angola Convention, from 1.5 to two billion euros”, stated the ambassador.
The diplomat recalled that this “important signal” was given at a time when Angola “was already facing difficulties in terms of external financing”.
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