Luanda – The authorities of the Kingdom of Belgium this Thursday manifested their satisfaction at the efforts being made by Angola towards guaranteeing peace and stability in the Great Lakes region.
This fact was made public by the ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Angola, Jozef Smets, when speaking to the press in the end of an audience with the Angolan Vice President, Esperança da Costa.
“We were impressed in Brussels by the efforts of Angola to guarantee and improve the climate of peace in the Great Lakes region”, explained the Belgian diplomat.
He went on to inform that the occasion also served to discuss matters relating to the environment, considering that the Angolan Vice President returned recently from Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, where the COP27 meeting is taking place.
“We are acting within the logics of strengthening contacts in this field, which is related to climate and environmental changes; because of this, on the fringes of COP-26, which took place in Glasgow (Scotland), the Belgian Prime Minister met with the President of the Republic of Angola, João Lourenço”, he reminded.
He then stressed that “we continue to dialogue and we spoke about the possibility of launching bilateral initiatives in this area”.
He disclosed that the Vice President also touched in the matter of the drought affecting southern parts of Angola, having informed that Belgium has been supporting this African country to combat the plague of locusts in the southern region.
To strengthen the co-operation, ambassador Jozef Smets mentioned an invitation to visit the Botanical Garden of Brussels, with a view to a partnership with the Angolan public Agostinho Neto University (UAN), as well as emphasised the need to step up co-operation in the higher education sector between both countries.
Thus, he seized the occasion to announce that a delegation from Belgium’s Liege University is to visit Angola in the beginning of the year 2023.
The politico-diplomatic relations between Angola and the Kingdom of Belgium took off in 1979. Since then, several agreements, memoranda and business contracts have been signed.
Among the accords, it is highlighted the Economic, Scientific and Cultural Agreement signed in April 1983, which defined the juridical framework of the bilateral co-operation and institued the Joint Commission, plus the General Co-operation Agreement of 26 July 1983.
