Africa-Press – Angola. A delegation of the Boma África group was in the Port of Lobito on Friday to learn about its potential and study how to contribute to the development of the Lobito Corridor.
According to one of the promoters of the event, Paulo Gomes, the Boma Africa group includes several multinational companies from Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, among others.
He clarified that, in addition to the interest of these multinationals in investing in the Lobito Corridor, they also intend to see ways to help their Angolan counterparts so that they can play an important role in Angola, especially in those infrastructures.
“The Lobito Corridor is far beyond the infrastructures and the entire ecosystem that will happen around it”, he declared.
In his opinion, there will be large Angolan groups that will be born and grow and their African counterparts will come to help in this growth.
“We are supported by influential entities, such as the former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, to create conditions for large Nigerian multinationals to visit Angola”, he pointed out.
According to Paulo Gomes, the objective is to engage these companies in various areas to diversify the economy, similar to what happened in Nigeria under President Obasanjo.
“The Lobito Corridor offers opportunities to develop other actions, such as in the real estate sector”, said the promoter, giving an example of the lack of social housing that can benefit a large population.
For his part, the president of the Senate of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean Michel Sana Lukonde, expressed the commitment of the three countries that are part of the Corridor, namely Angola, the DRC and Zambia.
“We support all initiatives that are made to materialize the Corridor, regarding trade and the creation of companies to provide employment for young people”, he commented.
He highlighted the presence of representatives of various financial institutions, such as the African Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund, so that they can monitor the applicability of investments linked to the Corridor.
“We are pleased to have received information about the potential and role of the Port of Lobito and everything we will have as support in relation to the three countries that are part of the Lobito Corridor.
On the other hand, the former chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, argued that it is important to create regional development for countries to be interconnected.
“The Lobito Corridor is the main part of the African continent, which is why we are here to make sure that this infrastructure makes the economy of our region work”, he considered.
Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma promised to bring to partners the need to bring investments to the Port, in particular, and to the Lobito Corridor in general.
For this Saturday, a visit to the elephant bay, an unexplored tourist area, located on the outskirts of Baía Farta, is planned.
This event is held annually. It is already in its sixth edition and this year Angola was chosen, for the first time, with the province of Benguela as its stage.
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