Africa-Press – Angola. The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, expressed Angola’s interest in seeing more Spanish businessmen investing in the Angolan market, as part of the ongoing diversification of the economy in the country.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC, the Angolan Head of State underlined the fact that several Spanish companies operate in Angola in different areas of the economy, highlighting sectors such as health, higher education, transport and defence.
As for the defense sector, the Angolan president said that Spain is building three Airbus C – 295 aircraft for Angola to support the control and surveillance of the country’s extensive coastline.
“With the new business environment in Angola we would like the Spanish private sector to do more”, observed João Lourenço, having pointed out the dominance of the naval industry as one of the preferential segments.
However, the Head of State added that in relation to the naval industry, everything depends on the credit facilities offered to Angola by Spain.
President João Lourenço recalled that Spain is a country facing the sea, has a good shipbuilding industry and that Angola needs means to better patrol its territorial waters and coastline, in addition to being located close to the Gulf of Guinea.
As for the partnership in the energy resources sector, the Statesman again said that the Angolan market is open and that he sees no problem in seeing Spanish companies operating in the country in this segment.
With regard to renewable energies, the President of the Republic referred that Angola is in a transition period, hence that a large part of the electricity produced internally already comes from clean sources, fundamentally hydroelectric and solar.
“Any other offers or private investment in this sector of solar energy, wind energy, green hydrogen are all welcome. Angola is receptive to making the complete energy transition in a short time, in a few years”, explained João Lourenço.
During the interview, the Statesman said that, in Africa, Angola has been playing a role in bringing together speakers of Portuguese and Spanish.
He underlined that at Angola’s insistence, currently, Equatorial Guinea, a Spanish-speaking country, is a member of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).
Angola and international relations
Within the framework of international relations, the President of the Republic projects, for the coming years, an Angola increasingly inserted in the world economy.
From the point of view of bilateral and multilateral diplomatic relations, he said that Angola has the characteristic of relating to all countries in the world, except those that are considered pariah states and that are outside the principles of the United Nations.
“We have prioritized taking advantage of our own peacebuilding experience to help other peoples who are still going through difficult times, of conflicts (…) to build a definitive peace, as is ours”, referred the President.
Today, continued the Head of State, there is the prospect of Africa being represented both in the G20 and as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
According to President João Lourenço, Angola will have the ambition to be the country or one of the African countries that could come to represent the continent.
Conflicts in Africa
He considered it fundamental to alert the governments and peoples of Africa to the need to work hard in favor of peace.
He recognized that the continent still faces many conflicts and instability, part of them due to the action of terrorism as in the Sahel, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Chad, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
João Lourenço referred that in the aforementioned territories instability is visible and permanent, having also pointed out the cases of Mozambique and Somalia.
For the Angolan President there is still much to be done to achieve definitive peace and stability in Africa.
Objectives for the 2022/2027 term
Among the objectives for the second mandate at the head of the Angolan State, the holder of the Executive Power stated that the focus is to finish the works of the different infrastructures started in the previous mandate.
He pointed to the completion of ports, airports, hydroelectric dams, hospitals, schools, the energy transport network to various parts of the country, construction of solar energy parks, national roads and the fight against drought in the south of the country.
He also pointed to the construction of more public universities.
Combating corruption
In the field of combating corruption, the President of the Republic said that it is everyone’s duty, with only the Head of State showing the way.
“My mission is just to show the way (…). Moreover, society has participated with denunciations. The investigative services have fulfilled their role of investigating. The Public Ministry has also fulfilled its role of constituting the processes and the same courts (…), he expressed.
He recalled that in Angola the fight against corruption is a fact that goes from top to bottom. He stated that within the framework of this process is small and large corruption, which includes some public agents.
Gender issues in governance
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC, the Holder of Executive Power made it clear that the Angolan Government is working to achieve gender equality.
Today, said the President of the Republic, in the statistics of students enrolled in higher education it can be seen that there are more young women than men, together with the fact that women make up the largest number of the Angolan population.
For João Lourenço, it is necessary to give opportunities to women, otherwise it could be difficult for this fringe to stand out in society, in employment and, above all, in high positions in public institutions.
“Up to this point, we have nothing to regret. They are as competent as we are”, declared the Head of State.
As for the country’s stability, he recalled that Angola has been experiencing 20 years of peace that is being consolidated year after year. He said that it was thanks to this that the country was experiencing some success in solving citizens’ problems, in the construction of infrastructures and in economic development.
War in Ukraine
Regarding the war in Ukraine, João Lourenço stated that Angola maintains diplomatic and friendly relations with Russia and Ukraine.
“Our position in relation to the fact that Russia has attacked a neighboring country, an independent state and member of the United Nations, Ukraine, made Angola take a stand”, said the President.
He added that Angola had taken a position to condemn this war and advise the Russian authorities to put an end to the war, which started on 24 February last year.
“I, in the first months after the start of the war, intended to travel to Moscow to speak with President (Vladimir) Putin. At the time it was not possible due to his unavailability”, informed the Angolan statesman.
However, he underlined that at the time he had a telephone conversation with the Russian leader, having expressed the need for a “ceasefire, preferably on the initiative of Russia” and for peace to be negotiated, since “already at that time the number of displaced people and dead was already big”. Angola and Portugal
relations When answering a question about the state of relations between Angola and Portugal, a neighboring country of Spain, the Angolan Head of State said that they have always been good, despite the fact that in the past there have been some “ups and downs”, which he considered normal . We have always had, not only good diplomatic relations, economic cooperation has always flowed.
Bilateral cooperation relations between Angola and the Kingdom of Spain are based on the General Cooperation Agreement signed on May 20, 1987, and the Complementary Agreement to the General Agreement signed in November 1987.
Cooperation between the two countries has intensified in the business sector with the presence of Spanish companies in Angola.
Spain currently has more than 60 companies operating in Angola in different sectors such as energy, banking, construction and agriculture.
Angola/Spain Cooperation
Cooperation relations between Angola and Spain are the main subject of the meeting that the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, will hold, next Tuesday, at the Presidential Palace, in Lunda, with the King of Spain, Filipe VI.
Spain included Angola among the “priority” nations in the “Foco África 2023” plan, which aims to strengthen bilateral collaboration with countries on the African continent.
Angola is among the seven priority countries, along with Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa are considered “anchor countries”, due to their demographic weight, political-economic projection and influence for the stability of their sub-regions.
The “Foco África 2023” plan is designed to channel institutional support for investments by Spanish companies in the continent.
In this framework, with Angola and the six other African countries mentioned above, Spain intends to build different, more comprehensive relations, based on mutual cooperation, between Europe and Africa.
Cooperation relations between Angola and the Kingdom of Spain are based on the General Cooperation Agreement, signed on May 20, 1987, and the Complementary Agreement to the General Agreement, initialed in November of the same year.
In the business sector, Spain has more than 60 companies operating in Angola in various sectors, such as energy, banking, civil construction and agriculture.
Official data indicate that the accumulated value of Spanish investments in Angola reached 518 million euros (one euro is equivalent to just over Kz. 500.00), since 2018, placing the African country in 49th place as a destination for its investments.
According to the same data, in 2020, Spain exported €87 million to Angola and imported goods worth €548 million.
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