Luanda – Angola’s minister of Energy and Water (MINEA), João Baptista Borges, is since Thursday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to address issues related to the production of renewable energy with companies from this Asian country.
According to a press release sent to ANGOP, the Angolan delegation is on a five-day working visit to the UAE, for technical working meetings, with particular emphasis on talks with the company MASDAR.
In the first meeting on Friday, MASDAR announced that it will invest roughly 500 MW of renewable energies in the coming years, in pre-identified locations, in the light of a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Angolan government during the visit the Southern African country’s president, João Lourenço, paid to the UAE in December 2021.
The note adds that the project will be undertaken as part of the establishment of a commercial agreement for private investment by UAE entities.
It adds that at this moment, consultations at technical level between the parties are underway to address outstanding issues and define future actions for the company's clean energy project to move forward.
Besides MASDAR, the Angolan minister met with Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Francesco La Camera, with whom he discussed issues related to the cooperation between Angola and that organization created on January 26, 2009.
IRENA pledged to provide technical support and access to financing for renewable energy projects.
Angola joined IRENA since its foundation and has participated in the meetings convened by the institution dedicated to the promotion of cooperation and development of the use of renewable energy technologies.
Meanwhile, João Baptista Borges, who was accompanied by the Angolan ambassador to the UAE, Albino Malungo (permanent representative to IRENA), formally invited the top entity of that agency to attend the inauguration of the Central Africa Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Center (CEREEAC), to be held in January 2023, in Luanda.
