Luanda – Algeria’s ambassador Abdelhakim Mihoubi Wednesday in Luanda expressed his country’s need to strengthen the economic partnership with Angola in the oil sector and staff training.
The diplomat voiced so while speaking to the press at the end of a meeting with the National Assembly Speaker, Carolina Cerqueira, adding that despite existing a commercial relationship between the two countries, it is necessary to re-launch bilateral economic cooperation.
He said that his country is also available to train Angolan staff in the hydrocarbons (petroleum) sector, as part of the partnership between the Angola’s oil firm Sonangol and Sonatrach.
Sonatrach is the largest Algerian company and the 11th largest oil consortium in the world.
The diplomat noted, on the other hand, praised the inter-parliamentary relations between the two countries and predicted the creation, in the near future, of inter-parliamentary friendship groups between the two countries.
Carolina Cerqueira's visit to Algeria
The ambassador said that the meeting also served to touch on the project for the visit of the National Assembly Speaker, Carolina Cerqueira, to Algeria, scheduled for November.
The Algerian diplomatic representation in Angola is preparing a photographic exhibition of Angolan nationalists who participated in the national liberation struggle, including that of the founder of the Angolan Nation, Agostinho Neto, with support from Algeria.
According to the Algerian diplomat, the photographic exhibition is proof of the strong historical relations between the two countries.
The friendly relations began before Angola's independence, when this Arab country provided diplomatic, material and military support in its struggle for independence.
In the post-independence period Algeria's support was notorious for training the first Angolan staff, particularly in the oil sector.
Angola and Nigeria deepen relations
Also Wednesday, the Parliament Speaker spoke to the Nigerian ambassador to the country, Monique Oshame Ekpong's, with whom she reviewed the deepening of bilateral and inter-parliamentary relations.
The meeting also enabled Angolan parliament leader to invite the Nigerian counterpart to participate in the 147th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (UIP) that Angola will host in October this year.
The Nigerian diplomat highlighted, on the occasion, the efforts that have been undertaken by Carolina Cerqueira in dignifying women at the parliamentary level and in society.
Political and diplomatic relations between Angola and Nigeria date back to 1975.
The two countries maintain good cooperation relations, especially in the Political-Diplomatic, Defence and Security domains.
Carolina Cerqueira talks with a Saharawi diplomat
Carolina Cerqueira also received in audience the ambassador of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic to Angola, Hamdi El Jalil Aall. The diplomat said that the objective of the meeting was to deepen relations between the two friendly countries.
He thanked the solidarity that his country has always received from Angola and other States towards the Saharawi cause.
The Saharawi Arab Republic is a territory in North Africa, bordered to the North by Morocco, to the East by Algeria, to the East and South by Mauritania and to the West by the Atlantic Ocean, where it forms a maritime border with the Spanish autonomous region of the Canary Islands.
The country claims sovereignty over the territory occupied by the Kingdom of Morocco for over 40 years, shortly after the withdrawal of Spain. DC/SC/ADR/NIC
