Doha – Angola is committed to supporting foreign investment and creating a favorable business environment, with attractive incentives, including tax, the Minister of the Environment, Ana Paula de Carvalho said on Sunday, in Doha, Qatar.
The minister, who was speaking at the ceremony celebrating Angola's Day at Expo Doha 2023, representing the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, called on the Qatari business community to consider Angolan market as a destination for their investments, ensuring that they will benefit from tax incentives and assistance for integration into the value chain.
“Our country is blessed with a diverse climate and fertile soils, suitable for a wide range of agricultural crops, from coffee to bananas, corn, cassava and others whose potential is not yet fully explored”, Ana Paula de Carvalho said, during the event, in which Qatar was represented by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Abdullah Al Subaie, accompanied by other entities.
For the Angolan leader, this not only means reaping the benefits of an investment in a certain sector, but also contributing to sustainable development and food security.
In her intervention, the minister stated that Angola is participating in the international horticulture exhibition with the sub-theme “Modern agriculture, environmental awareness and sustainability” and the motto “Planting for life”, with the aim of showing the world the efforts it has made. undertaken in food production, protecting life and improving the health of its population.
The minister highlighted that with this the Angolan Government intends to illustrate the perfect symbiosis between modern and traditional agriculture, stressing that important factors, such as the balance between modern technology in agriculture and community production, shaped the country's policies towards economic diversification.
She considered environmental awareness fundamental in promoting a change in attitudes and behaviors that are harmful to the environment, highlighting that Angola has developed tools to encourage the protection of nature through increasing connectivity with nature and promoting environmental development.
According to Ana Paula de Carvalho, the motto of Expo 2023 - “Green desert, better environment” is an appeal to humanity to create more harmonious and sustainable forms of food production, combining tradition with modern technology, for the balanced use of natural resources, taking into account the importance of maintaining the balance of biodiversity and ecology without harming modern life.
“This event is of great importance in the efforts and global cooperation on the challenges that each country faces in the search for sustainable solutions, with a view to achieving the goals established at national level and in the agreements and treaties in the various areas of the Agenda 2030 on sustainable development”, she highlighted.
She said Angola is facing marked degradation of its 1,650-kilometer coastal strip, due to human pressure on the soil, especially food production, excessive grazing, burning and uncontrolled deforestation.
“The Government has been working to reverse this situation, protect the national coastal strip and the deforested areas of the interior, in order to correct the harmful effects of climate change, as well as prevent the total rupture of the soil, which puts in danger not only the fauna and flora, but also the food security of the populations”, she highlighted.
The minister also spoke about the actions developed within the scope of the program to combat the effects of the drought in the south of the country, highlighting the Cafu canal, and also referred to the initiatives that aim to slow down the progression of the desert in the Namibe region, through a campaign ongoing to plant several species of trees to create a large green curtain to halt the progression of the desert.
She also highlighted community engagement and empowerment programs, with emphasis on the creation of agricultural field schools, environmental education and the establishment of added value chains, with the aim of safeguarding the subsistence of populations affected by this phenomenon.
For his part, Qatar's Minister of Environment and Climate Change promised Angola the materialization of the 'strong projects' he has in the areas of environment and food security.
Abdullah Al Subaie said that Angola is doing well at the Expo and praised the cultural band's performance at the event.
She considered political and economic cooperation important for Angola and Qatar, such as in the areas of oil, environment, education and international relations.
Angola Day at Expo 2023 was attended by the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock, João Manuel Bartolomeu da Cunha, the Angolan ambassador to Qatar, António Coelho Ramos da Cruz, the general commissioner of Angola at Expo, Albina Assis, from members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Qatar and several Angolan citizens.SC/DOJ
