Beijing – Angola and China Business Forum held Saturday is the highest point of the second day of Angolan President João Lourenço's official visit to the Asian country.
The agenda includes talks with Chinese businesspeople and an interview with a Chinese media organization, before the Angolan President leaves for Shandong province.
On Friday, João Lourenço took part in three high-level meetings, namely with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, the Prime Minister, Li Qiang, and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Assembly (Parliament), Wu Bangguo.
During the presidential meeting, Xi Jinping proposed renewing cooperation between his country and Angola in different areas, emphasizing that bilateral relations are well advanced, which is why they will continue to support Angola.
At the end of the meeting between the statesmen, the delegations from the two countries signed 12 agreements, in areas such as sport, trade, agriculture, sustainable development and digital infrastructures.
Earlier, at the meeting with the Chinese Prime Minister, João Lourenço said "the constraints presented by Angola on commitments to Chinese banks and creditor institutions have already been unblocked”, adding that Angola's debt to China totaled around 17 billion US dollars.
Of this amount, the Angolan President explained that approximately 12 billion were borrowed from the Chinese Development Bank (CDB) and EximBank.
In his official visit running until Sunday, he said the Angolan ministers of state for economic and finance coordination have successfully worked with the Chinese finance minister, banks and creditor institutions to study relief measures, without harming the interests of none of the parties.
Also on Friday, the Angolan Head of State laid a wreath at the People's Heroes Monument in Tiananmen Square and attended a dinner hosted by his Chinese counterpart.
On Thursday, on the sidelines of the official program, the Angolan President received Chinese business people operating in various fields in Angola, including the chairman of the China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), Tan Hua.
With this organisation, João Lourenço spoke about the Caculo Cabaça Hydroelectric Plant, which is being built in the province of Cuanza-Norte (Cuanza River Basin) by this contractor.
The Angolan president had another audience with the Chairman of the Board of the Hebei Huatong Cable Group company, Zhang Wedong with whom he spoke about the progress of the works of an aluminum production plant in Bengo province with a capacity to produce 120,000 tonnes per year.
João Lourenço received the President of the Engineering Corporation company (AVIC), Liu Hong Guang, which was in charge of building the newly inaugurated Dr António Agostinho Neto International Airport las year in Luanda.
He also granted an audience to the chairman of the board of directors of the Zhejiang Sunshine Industrial Group, Wu Hongxin, which has invested 550 million US dollars in Angola.
Of all the audiences with Chinese executives, the most notable was that of the representative of Safety Technology, a subsidiary of China Telecom, headed by the chairman Li Longqing.
Four decades of cooperation
Currently, the legal framework for cooperation between the two countries is based on a General Agreement that operates in the most varied areas of economic and social life, with a strong presence in staff training, through the construction and equipping of the Integrated Technological Training Centre and the Venâncio de Moura Diplomatic Academy, as well as scholarships for young Angolans.
With Angola's total external public debt (valued at around 49.3 billion US dollars by the third quarter of 2023), China remains Angola's biggest creditor, despite the Angolan government's efforts to reduce it.
FMA/MCN/MRA/AMP
