Pretoria - President João Lourenço was on Thursday awarded the Order of South Africa, the highest honor in the country of Nelson Mandela.
The ceremony took place during the Angolan President's state visit to South Africa, where he received the Order's chain from his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Order of South Africa is the highest decoration and honor that South Africa bestows on an important and friendly Head of State.
President João Lourenço said that this was a highlight of his state visit and that the honor was being bestowed "not on him as a person, as an individual," but on the Angolan people, who have always been able to maintain strong bonds of friendship and solidarity with the South African people.
For this reason, João Lourenço, on behalf of all Angolans, thanked South Africa for this high honor, which demonstrates the interest of both peoples and countries in maintaining the historic relations established during the struggle against the apartheid regime.
Even then, we were fighting for a common good, we were fighting for the freedom of our peoples, we were fighting for social progress, for the economic and social development of our countries," Lourenço said.
João Lourenço arrived in South Africa on Wednesday for a 24-hour state visit at the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Cooperation between Angola and South Africa has a solid historical and strategic basis, stemming from mutual support during the struggle for independence and against apartheid.
The two sides signed the General Agreement on Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation in 1998 in Luanda.
Various other legal instruments for cooperation between the two countries have also been signed, including the establishment in 2000 of the Bilateral Cooperation Commission, a key diplomatic mechanism that has been the main means of interaction in recent years, with four meetings to date, held alternately in Pretoria and Luanda, which have enabled cooperation activities to be implemented.AFL/RB/ART/TED/AMP
