Rome – Barra do Dande Free Trade Zone will receive a 200 million US dollars financing that will enable the implementation of the first phase of its infrastructures.
The agreement for the funding was signed Thursday in Rome, Italy, and should "open doors" for the project to begin this year, with Italian partners, Angola’s Transport Minister Ricardo D'Abreu has said.
The Barra do Dande Integrated Development Free Zone is located in the Barra do Dande commune, in Bengo province, and is part of the State Land Reserve.
It will be set up over a total land area of 5,465 hectares located 40 kilometres north-east of Luanda and 30 kilometres to the west of Caxito city.
The Barra do Dande Development Society, S.A. a public limited company, was set up in 2021 to manage and operate the project.
The creation of an Integrated Development Terminal in Barra do Dande and the respective Free Zone aims, among other things, to guarantee food and energy security and the country's economic and industrial development.
Attracting investors to Angola
As part of the Italy-Angola Economic Forum held Thursday in the Italian capital, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João, spoke of the importance of cooperation with the European country.
Speaking to the press, the Angolan minister said that it was of Angola's interest to deepen its economic partnership with Italy.
"Angola has a positive trade balance with Italy, based on the export of oil products, of around 90 percent," the minister said.
Caetano João added that the aim is to diversify those exports with some products from the extractive sector in the wood and ornamental stone sectors.
In terms of the pharmaceutical sector, the Angolan minister said it was Angola's strategy for Italy to use the country as a revolving platform for the Southern African Development Community region and Central Africa.
Mário Caetano João said that he sees the Angola-Italy partnership in the agri-industry sector in a positive light, underlining the fact that the European country is among the world's biggest machinery producers in that sector.
