Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, João Gomes Cravinho, expressed, this Tuesday (12), in Luanda, the desire to see Portuguese economic investment in Angola reinforced, especially in areas such as Tourism, Energy and Agriculture, in order to diversify the traditional sectors of cooperation between the two countries, at a time when the debt with Portuguese companies is mostly paid.
The new head of Portuguese diplomacy, who chose Angola as the first country to visit, expressed his intention to the press, at the end of the audience with the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, in Cidade Alta, to whom he expressed the idea of his country. to go deeper into bilateral cooperation. João Gomes Cravinho, who was until recently Minister of National Defence, said that Portugal’s idea is to take advantage of the potential that Angola offers in these sectors.
“I believe that this moment, when our countries and the world, in general, are trying to recover from the pandemic crisis, although still faced with a major economic crisis, which results from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, constitutes a favorable framework. in which we must make every effort to intensify the economic relationship”, he stressed.
The Portuguese minister added that the moment is still ripe for the strengthening of economic relations between the two States, given the fact that they have managed to overcome, in recent years, some of the problems they faced. “There were quite significant debts of the Angolan State in relation to Portuguese companies, but most of them have already been paid”, he underlined.
On the occasion, he referred to the work carried out by the Angolan Government to improve the country’s economic qualities, having, at the moment, highlighted the recognition of international rating institutions, such as the IMF, of the progress made by Angola in this matter.
The head of Portuguese diplomacy considered this recognition an excellent indicator for the creation of a good business environment in the country, João Gomes Cravinho stressed that the meeting with the President of the Republic, to whom he delivered a letter from the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa , also allowed to analyze the situation of issuing visas to national citizens who intend to travel to Portugal. In recent months, the national press has very often registered complaints from citizens who said they faced difficulties in obtaining a Portuguese visa. On this matter, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs assured that the situation has already started to improve since the signing of the Visa Facilitation Protocol.
“The numbers show that there is greater agility, but there are, of course, many improvements to be made and, therefore, one of the objectives of my visit is precisely, also, to fully understand what the problems are in relation to the granting of visas and identify solutions”, stressed the minister, for whom the matter is an issue that needs to be improved so that the economic relationship between the two countries is as fruitful as possible.
João Gomes Cravinho highlighted that during the audience granted by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was also addressed, having advanced that, on this matter, they concluded on the absolute necessity of, in the short term, a solution leading to the cessation of hostilities is found.
The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, said that he had chosen Angola to carry out the first bilateral visit, in recognition of the potential to go further and, also, for the fact that the country is currently presiding the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), “one of the main anchors of Portuguese foreign policy”. “Angola has been performing very well its leadership at the head of the CPLP, and, in this regard, it made perfect sense that it was the destination of our first visit”, concluded the Portuguese politician.
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