Luanda - Angola and Portugal signed twelve legal instruments on Tuesday in Luanda, as part of the strengthening of bilateral cooperation, in a ceremony witnessed by the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro.

The documents were signed as part of the three-day official working visit that the head of the Portuguese Government is making to Angola, at the invitation of President João Lourenço.

In this context, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Angolan Ministries of Planning and Finance were signed, in the field of promotion and enhancement of public-private partnerships in Angola, as well as training and technical assistance on public debt management and the State treasury.

The contract for the financing of the dam in the municipality of Chicomba, Huíla province, in the amount of more than 60 million Euros, the protocol for the implementation of the technical-police cooperation and civil protection program and the cooperation protocol between the Portuguese ministries of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security and Labor, Solidarity and Social Security for the period 2024-2027 were signed.

The list also includes the Memorandum on cooperation in the area of Public Administration, the Cooperation Protocol between the Vocational Training Centre for Fisheries of Angola (CEFOPESCAS) and the Vocational Training Centre for Fisheries and the Sea of Portugal (FOR-MAR), the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Regulatory Agency for Medicines and Technological Means of Angola and INFARMED of Portugal,  in the field of pharmaceutical regulation.

The Partnership Agreement on the PhD course in primary education methodology and the Memorandum of Understanding on the training and management of teaching staff were also signed.

Other documents signed are related to the Cooperation Protocol between the Institute for Tourism Promotion of Angola and the Institute of Tourism of Portugal, under the REVIVE Programme, as well as the Memorandum of Understanding between the National Institute for Health Research (INIS) and the National Institute of Health (INSA).

The 12 legal instruments of cooperation signed here constitute the basis on which new initiatives and actions aimed at broadening and deepening exchanges between Angola and Portugal will be developed.

At a press conference, after the signing of the agreements, the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, said that the two countries have always been together in good and bad times and that is how the relationship will continue.

He stressed that the partnership between Angola and Portugal is between states and not between political parties.

For this reason, he stressed, for almost 50 years, regardless of who is in power, there has been no change in the relationship.

He said that Angola develops cooperation that covers all areas of the economy and that there have been periods when public investment was privileged, but now, without prejudice to this happening, today the primacy goes more to private investment, because in the market economy more space should be given to the private sector.

João Lourenço acknowledged that there is still much to be done in terms of public infrastructure, but, at the same time, 'we would like to see the interest of private investors to act more in both countries'.

He pointed out that the number of Angolan companies investing in Portugal is still derisory, but 'timidly' Angola is starting to take steps to increase its presence, as it is in the interest of the authorities that companies grow and internationalize.

For his part, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said that cooperation relations are increasingly dynamic and aim to give more future to the economic and social progress of Angolans and Portuguese.

He said that the initialed documents are the expression that the relationship is alive. 'It's a relationship of all hours, difficult hours and success'.

He said that years of success are expected for both nations, as Portuguese companies are sensitive to invest in Angola.

Luís Montenegro said that Portugal is available to help Angola in the creation of infrastructure to leverage public and private investments.

'We are together in the political relationship, in the economy, in the ability to train cadres, to value our language and culture. We are together to build the future', concluded the head of the Portuguese government.

Cooperation

Angola is one of Portugal's main trading partners, being the 9th customer of Portuguese goods and 11th supplier to the Portuguese nation.

The dense economic interconnection that unites the two peoples results from deep empathy in human, affective, linguistic and cultural terms.

Almost five thousand Portuguese companies export to Angola, having reached, in 2023, 2.2 billion euros in goods and services exported to Angola (one euro is equivalent to about 900 kwazas).

This performance kept Portugal, right after China, as the second main supplier to the Angolan market, alongside more than 1,250 companies with Portuguese or mixed capital, which operate and invest in almost all sectors of the Angolan economy.

Construction companies are the spearheads of Portugal's economic presence in Angola, employing tens of thousands of workers, the vast majority of whom are Angolan citizens.

Agri-food and agro-industrial, renewable energy, manufacturing, banking, information and telecommunications technologies, metalworking, water, sanitation and the pharmaceutical sector also join the range of Portuguese businesses.

In 2023, the visit of the then Prime Minister to Luanda, António Costa, stands out, which resulted in the signing of 13 bilateral instruments, with emphasis on the Strategic Cooperation Program 2023-2027 (PEC) and the increase in the business credit line.

This year, Portugal gave an important signal with the extension of the ceiling of the financing line, under the Portugal-Angola Convention, from 1.5 to two billion euros. AFL/ART/DOJ