Benguela - The minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment, Filipe Zau, said Thursday that the country intends to increasingly focus on circular economy, through sustainability and efficiency in the use and reuse of natural resources.
The minister was speaking in the centre-west province of Benguela, which is hosting the second consultative council of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment, set to close on Friday, under the topic “Culture, Tourism and Environment - in the Emergence of a Circular Economy”, with the aim of evaluating the activities developed by the sector.
The minister admits that this is the right moment for the country to consolidate the circular economy, stressing that the idea is to implement technologies in dealing with and recycling waste.
Hence the official highlighted the importance of converting this waste into raw material for the manufacture of new products, through various industrial processes, based on the principles of the circular economy.
According to Filipe Zau, the current challenges have led to the implementation of desalination technologies to produce fresh water, capable of meeting the demands of the population, constituting a strategy to integrate environment, culture and tourism".
The official said that this work should have repercussions in several provinces, assuring that Benguela has already started articulation to build pilot desalination units and the implementation of other environmental technologies necessary to solve the various problems affecting the country.
However, the minister assures that the ministry will continue to follow these paths so that the environment is preserved and the circular economy is consolidated, with a view to reducing environmental impacts from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
For tourism to become the biggest source of economic diversification, the minister argued that it was necessary to ensure the starting preconditions for national and foreign businesses to invest and ensure greater employability for a young population.
As the official explained, the growth of the world tourism market offers countless opportunities for developed and developing countries, for that reason Angola should take advantage of and develop its potential and comparative advantages as a tourist destination of reference.
In terms of the environment, the minister Filipe Zau said that the ministry had been responsible for thinking about this sector with a critical eye on reality, focusing on all aspects, mainly on sustainability towards circularity.
The first day of the event was reserved for the themes “The challenges of classification and management of cultural assets”, “Implementation strategy for cultural and creative industries” and “The national museum network: strategies to improve its services”.
