Mbanza Kongo - The 2nd edition of the Kongo International Cultural Festival (Festikongo) will take place in August this year, the governor of the province of Zaire, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho, announced on Friday in Mbanza Kongo.
Speaking to the press, the official informed that a working committee was created to prepare for this event, which has been interrupted in the last three years, due to Covid-19 and also due to a lack of funds.
He explained that the delay in approving the General State Budget (OGE), for the year 2023, was the basis for the event not being held during this period.
“There is a superior orientation from the President of the Republic, for the materialization of this activity this year,” he said, for whom the magnitude of the event to be organized will depend on the volume of funds to be allocated.
For the governor of Zaire, with or without money, Festikongo is already a major festival due to the cultural component it moves and the status of the historic center of Mbanza Kongo, the capital of the former Kingdom of Kongo, now a World Heritage Site.
For its materialization, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho hopes to count on the support of the entire society, business class, traditional authorities and the general population of the region.
Festikongo, whose first edition took place from 5 to 8 July 2019, is one of the recommendations made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), when the historic centre of Mbanza Kongo was inscribed in the list of Cultural Heritage of Humanity in July 2017.
The event serves as a milestone of exchange and cultural reaffirmation between the countries that were part of the then territory of the Kingdom of Kongo (Angola, DRC, Congo Brazzaville and Gabon), including the Kongo diaspora.
Adriano Mendes de Carvalho was speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the activities to the National Culture Day, to be celebrated this Monday, January 8, in Angola.
Radio debates on the rescue of moral and civic values, thanksgiving mass, lectures on the appreciation and preservation of Angola's historical cultural heritage, among other activities, will dominate the day celebrating the Day of National Culture in Zaire province.PMV/JL/DOJ
