Luanda – Angolan president João Lourenço, said Wednesday in Prague that his country aims to cooperate with the Czech Republic in agriculture, manufacturing, higher education, science and technology and tourism, as well as in the defense sector
Angolan Head of State, who is on a two-day official visit to that European country at the invitation of his counterpart Petra Pavel, said Angola is willing to cooperate in these sectors, since the Czech Republic is very developed in agriculture, industry and has experience in modernizing armed forces.
Speaking to the press moments after witnessing the signing of the memo on Political Consultations between the two states, the Angolan president said the goal is to deepen cooperation ties, thus the need to update the legal instruments to serve as a basis and leverage this cooperation.
João Lourenço guaranteed that after signing this memorandum, the two countries will be prepared to sign other agreements in more concrete areas, namely on the protection and reciprocal promotion of investment, prevention of double taxation, visa exemptions for diplomatic and service passports and perhaps for ordinary passports, as well as others in areas of economic cooperation.
"Angola is creating a good business environment and for this reason is attracting foreign private investment to develop its economy," Lourenço said.
The Angolan president added that his visit is expected to boost friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries and peoples, stressing that he has invited President Petra Pavel to visit Angola as soon as the foreign ministers of the two countries identify suitable dates and times.
Memorandum
Angola and the Czech Republic signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Political Consultations in Prague on Wednesday, which aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation that began in 1993.
The moment was witnessed by the leaders of the two countries, João Lourenço and Petra Pavel respectively, after they met privately.
The foundations have been laid for the expansion of cooperation, with a relationship of more than 30 years in a wide variety of fields that will allow the identification of new areas of action of interest to both states.
President João Lourenço´s first day of his visit was received at Prague Palace, with military honors by his Czech counterpart, Petra Pavel, with whom he held a private meeting.
President João Lourenço is going to visit the Senate and the Chamber of MPs and will also meet with the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala.
João Lourenço will leave Prague on Thursday.
The Czech Republic is a Central European country with a population of over 10.7 million.
Political and diplomatic relations between Angola and Czech Republic date back to the Cold War period, when the country was linked to the Slovak Republic, then Czechoslovakia, which disintegrated on 1 January 1993, when it was part of the socialist bloc. VIC/DAN/AMP
