Africa-Press – Angola. Angola’s first ambassador to the United States of America, José Patrício, told on Wednesday that he is optimistic about the future deepening of relations between the two countries.
Current Angolan ambassador to Turkey, José Patrício was responding to a question regarding the 30th anniversary of the recognition of Angola by the authorities of the United States of America, which is celebrated on Friday.
“Statistics do not lie and the fact that cooperation relations between Angola and the United States of America are growing and diversifying can only be a reason for satisfaction and belief in a future of greater prosperity”, he said.
In relation to this matter, the ambassador cites the Private Investment and Export Promotion Agency of Angola (AIPEX), according to which the United States is, “the first country with the highest number of processes and expressions of interest in investing in Angola and, most importantly, outside the oil enclave”.
As for the recognition of Angola by the United States of America, José Patrício says that the process “was a difficult birth, involved and conditioned by many other factors of the political-military chess that were going on at the time”.
“I would even say that recognition was exploited to the limit of its political sustainability and the continuation of its postponement was already hurting the credibility of the White House, such were the appeals in this sense coming from all corners of the planet”, he said.
“A difficult birth, but one that generated a healthy boy who today celebrates 30 years of a journey in which relations between the two States grow and strengthen in an environment of excellent expectations for the future”, he added.
Independent since November 11, 1975, Angola had to wait 17 years for recognition by the authorities of the United States of America, a fact that would only occur on May 19, 1993.
The recognition of Angola by the United States of America took place in the year following the first Angolan multiparty elections, held in 1992.
José Patrício was Angola’s ambassador to the United States of America from 1993 to 1994. Before that (since 1991), he was ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).
From September 1994 until the end of 1999, he was ambassador to Portugal, having later represented Angola at the United Nations, in 2000 and 2001.
He would interrupt his diplomatic activity to join British Petroleum (BP) Angola, for a period of 10 years, as “Country President”, having then moved to GENIUS, an Angolan holding company.
He resumed his diplomatic life in 2018, already in the era of President João Lourenço, as Angola’s ambassador to Turkey, until the present day.
Before diplomacy, he worked at Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA) and at the Presidency of the Republic, as the President’s Secretary for Information.
Holds a postgraduate degree in Political Marketing and Communication from the Independent University of Portugal and Complutense of Spain.
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