Africa-Press – Angola. The announcement of the first export of 23 tons of food products from Angola to the United States of America (USA) was one of the news events that marked the week in the economic area, which ends Saturday.
The initiative by the Angolan food processing company “Food Care” falls under the American African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Among the foodstuffs exported from Angola, bombo and cornmeal, catato, cooked kizaca, mushrooms, peanuts (ginguba) and butter stand out.
According to the counselor at the US Embassy in Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, Mea Arnold, the action is the result of a partnership between the company “Food Care” and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
AGOA gives eligible sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US market for more than 1,800 agricultural products.
In addition to this fact, this week also highlighted the presentation of the balance of the first phase of the Informal Economy Reconversion Program (PREI), ongoing in the country since 2018, having removed more than 250 thousand workers from informality.
The respective data were released by the Minister of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, Teresa Dias, during the opening of the first International Forum for the Reconversion of the Informal Economy.
On the occasion, the government official said that PREI also allowed the creation of nine thousand jobs.
Still within the scope of PREI, the highlight also fell on the five thousand operators who received micro credits, for a global amount of around eight billion kwanzas, according to the president of the National Institute of Support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (INAPEM) , João Nkosi.
In the field of transport, the focus was on the participation of 15 companies specialized in the management of airport infrastructures in the session to present the potential and terms of reference for the tender for the management concession of the new Dr. António Agostinho Neto International Airport ( AIAAN).
Companies from Europe, the United States, China and Latin America joined the event and, in addition to learning about the strategic plan to make the new airport a “hub” (turntable), learned that the concession has a period 25 years, extendable for another 15.
The session also served to inform interested parties about the eligibility criteria, based on financial capacity, set above 150 million dollars.
In this sector, the meeting between the Minister of Transport, Ricardo D’Abreu, and international financial institutions that “probe” projects in the field of transport also made headlines.
During the meeting, representatives from Deutsche Bank, a German bank, and DFC, an American financial institution, assured the availability of funds to jointly contribute to the construction of structural projects in Angola, with emphasis on transport.
In the railway sector, the Luanda Railway (CFL) announced the transport of 782 thousand 700 passengers in 2022, compared to the 209 thousand 440 average recorded until 2017.
The number of passengers transported last year results from the 16 daily frequencies, operated by trains called Diesel Multiple Units (DMU), on the normal route from Monday to Friday, at a fare that varies between 200 and 2,500 kwanzas.
Another fact that was worth highlighting was the registration of 100 investment projects, valued at more than one billion dollars.
These are projects aimed at the sectors of tourism, industry, energy and water, health, among others, which will contribute to the growth of the national economy and generate more than five thousand jobs, according to the president of the Agency for Private Investment and Promotion of Angolan Exports (AIPEX), Lello Francisco.
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