Pretoria - President João Lourenço on Thursday called on the Angolan and South African authorities to work on regularizing the migration situation of citizens of both countries.
The Angolan President made the statement at the opening of official talks between the governments of the two countries, as part of his state visit to South Africa, aimed at strengthening cooperation.
With regard to the redefinition of the cooperation strategy between Angola and South Africa, President João Lourenço asked for special attention to be paid to the migration and justice sectors, as he believes there are still many concerns regarding the legalization of citizens in an irregular situation, both in South Africa and in Angola.
"Therefore, I think it is very important that our teams, at a technical level, design effective ways and methods to help speed up the resolution of not only this problem, but also the issue of repatriation of citizens in an illegal situation in both countries and the transfer of people sentenced to prison," Lourenço said.
The Angolan president's visit agenda includes the signing of new agreements to strengthen cooperation in strategic areas such as energy, mining, agriculture and trade, with a focus on initiatives to attract more foreign investment to Angola.
Angola and South Africa intend to consolidate partnerships to improve their energy infrastructure, which has already been identified as an area of mutual interest.
Later on Thursday, a business forum will be held where the two presidents will speak.
Bilateral cooperation
The cooperation between Angola and South Africa has solid historical and strategic foundations, stemming from mutual support during the struggle for independence and against apartheid.
The two countries signed the General Agreement for Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation in 1998 in Luanda.
Several other legal instruments of cooperation have also been signed between the two countries, including the creation of the Bilateral Cooperation Commission in 2000, a diplomatic mechanism of crucial importance 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 carried out.AFL/RB/ART/AMP
