Luanda – Trade between Angola and India has reached Usd 4 billion from 2019 to 2020, with a positive balance for the latter, Angop learned recently in Luanda.
The information was released by the Indian ambassador to Angola, Pratibha Parkar, during a fraternisation lunch at her official residence.
According to the diplomat, New Dheli imported from Angola crude oil worth Usd 3.7 million and exported to the African nation goods to the amount of Usd 0.3 billion.
She said Angola is India’s second major crude oil supplier, sharing with it 10 percent ot its external trade.
Early in December, Pratibha Parkar was quoted in a note from India’s Gem Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) as saying that Angola was open to direct foreign investment from Indian companies, seeking to help develop the country’s mining potential.
For his part, speaking at a video conference with Indian business people, the executive director of the Sociedade Nacional de Comércio de Diamantes de Angola (SODIAM), Fernando Amaral, expressed the interest to sell gems through sites and certified market tenders.
That first virtual meeting between the two countries was jointly organised by GJEPC, SODIAM, the Angola/India Chamber of Commerce and India Global Connect.
Also attending the event were delegates from the Indian Commerce Department and prominent private diamond companies in that country, especially Kapu Gems, KGK, Diamonds Tiku Gems, Rosyblue, Asian Star and KBS Diamond.
Information from the Indian diplomatic mission in Angola indicates that between 2019 and 2020, the Asian country imported diamonds worth US 6.01 million from Angola.
Angola and India established diplomatic relations in 1985.
The relations got strengthened in 2018, during the BRICS conference, in Johannesburg (South Africa), when on the event’s sidelines, the Angolan President, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Similar meetings followed, on 7 September, between the respective foreign ministers, namely S. Jashankar and Téte António.
The meeting led to the signing of three Memoranda of Understanding for the boosting of economic relations, through partnerships in trade, agriculture, investment, food processing, health and pharmaceutical products.
Sectors such as information and telecommunication technologies, diamonds, and oil and gas were covered by the signed Memoranda.
