Luanda - The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rui Miguêns de Oliveira, defended today, in Luanda, the need for the industrialization of raw materials and agricultural production in Angola and other countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to make available products with added value in international markets.
Speaking at the 39th annual meeting of SADC structures for technical barriers to trade, he highlighted that countries in the region are mainly producers of essential raw materials, with a positive trade balance.
From this view, he pointed out that it is necessary to increasingly incorporate finished products into exports, transformed by local industries.
Rui Miguêns de Oliveira reinforces the need to reduce technical barriers to trade and, in other cases, their elimination, the consequence of which should be the increase in industrial development, as well as the facilitation and fluidity of intra-regional, African and international trade.
He recalled that Angola signed and ratified the SADC trade protocol and “we have to comply with certain requirements, namely origin, quality and we are sure that our products that go to regional trade, as those that come from other countries comply with the requirements that SADC places on these transactions”.
He highlighted the need to ensure that the quality of products respects national and regional requirements and standards for this purpose, given that “inter-regional trade has been happening for a long time, trade between SADC countries is a reality”.
“Products that originate in member countries must, as soon as our tariff schedule is approved, be sold within Angola as national products and Angolan products will also be sold in other countries in the region under the same conditions”, he said. .
The minister explained that national, cross-border, regional, continental and global trade are essential for the development of economies, the well-being of populations and peace.
“Although freedom of trade constitutes its fundamental pillar, this must be exercised through rules contained in bilateral and multilateral agreements, which is why We understand that, of these, commercial rules on technical barriers to trade, led by the World Trade Organization – WTO, are relevant”, he stressed.
Regarding the workshop under the theme “The Impact of Quality on Human Capital”, on the sidelines of the 39th annual meeting of SADC structures, with the participation of around a hundred national companies, he highlighted that it is another opportunity to raise awareness about the adoption of quality processes and the impact of these activities on the training and development of human capital.
Rui Miguêns de Oliveira said that the relevance of human capital “reminds us of the need to inform, train, specialize and update, in a scheduled and continuous manner, the men and women of our countries, as only then can we ensure success and the recommended programs.” HM/AC/CF/DOJ
