Luanda - The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, Thursday in Luanda Province discussed with members of the Government the next steps in the relationship with the United States of America (USA), following his meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House a week ago.
Speaking to the press at the end of the meeting, the minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, said that the meeting was aimed at analyzing the progress of cooperation in the military, defence and security, infrastructure, telecommunications, transport, health, agriculture, trade and other areas.
The idea is to boost this cooperation, given the new moment in relations between Angola and the United States of America.
He said that perhaps the most important thing for the business community would be the opportunities opening up for exporting more Made in Angola products, as well as indicating the availability of support for private initiatives in the country.
The minister added that it will be necessary to create all the operational terms to ensure that this new moment materializes with effective gains for both countries, particularly for the Angolan economy and its citizens.
On the private business domain, he highlighted the opportunity for more projects to be financed with support from US financial institutions.
"In very general terms, this was the scope of today's meeting, held at the initiative of His Excellency the President of the Republic," he said.
With regard to the scepticism that may arise about the practical results, the minister of State for Economic Coordination reaffirmed that we are in fact living in a new moment and the most recent developments demonstrate a concrete case, giving as an example the Lobito corridor, where the entities that won the tender for exploitation already have financial support from US entities.
He said that the US had announced, and was currently carrying out, an infrastructure investment program for the least developed countries (LDCs), in which Angola had been selected.
He said that the expectation is to have more resources available to continue the country's development.
The official also highlighted the European Union's partnership with LDCs, of which Angola is also a member, selected from the first batch to benefit from this support for infrastructure.
He highlighted the closer relationship aimed at enabling the Angolan economy to have better conditions for exporting goods to the US, within the scope of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as well as attracting more US investment to Angola in a wide range of areas.
He added that from now on Angola would have to continue to work to ensure that the actions recommended were materialized, with emphasis on the availability of funding for the business sector.
José de Lima Massano said that, given greater proximity and openness, the gains are not immediate, but there is a path to follow and a series of opportunities that should be seized.
He emphasized that the responsibility relies on the government of Angola and then the private sector from which major conquests are expected taking into account that will emerge more North American companies to operate in Angola, being the most essential the opportunities which will be open to those companies already operating in the country that have the initiative and capacity to grow their businesses and need financial capacity.
He stressed that the responsibility falls to the Angolan government and then with the private sector, which is expected to achieve great things given that more US companies will be operating in Angola, the most essential being the opportunities that will be opened up to companies already operating in the country that have the initiative and capacity to grow their businesses and need financial capacity.
"So we have this window of opportunity. We all have to organize ourselves and take greater advantage of this new framework for cooperation between Angola and the US," he concluded.
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