Luanda - The Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, is due to make an official visit to Angola on July 23, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, announced Friday at the end of an audience granted by the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço.
This will be the first visit by the head of the Portuguese government to Angola after taking office in April this year, following the Portuguese legislative elections on March 10.
The visit is in response to the invitation made by the Angolan President, João Lourenço, during a meeting with the Portuguese Prime Minister on April 27 in Lisbon.
Speaking to the press, the Portuguese diplomat explained that his visit to Angola served, among other things, to finalize preparations for the visit of the Portuguese Prime Minister and to assess bilateral relations, which he described as excellent.
"We took the opportunity to analyze bilateral relations in various areas. We know that in one case or another they need to be improved, there is one problem or another that needs to be corrected and so we spoke about these issues with the President of the Republic, all with a view to preparing for this high point in relations, which has to do with the visit of the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro," Rangel said.
For Paulo Rangel, there is the need to consolidate the existing relations, especially in the most important areas, such as infrastructure and others in which the private sector can also play a fundamental role, namely tourism, professional training, health and others.
Immigration policy
As regards Portugal's recently adopted immigration policy, the minister stressed that it had not changed any laws and that the mobility agreement of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) remains intact.
"A number of priorities have been set, the first referring to CPLP citizens and the other to family reunification, but CPLP citizens are on our number one radar and will continue to be privileged," Rangel said.
The minister explained that Portugal needs a lot of manpower and "our sister countries" must be given priority, since there is a relationship that makes integration very easy and creates advantages for everyone.
According to the Portuguese Foreign minister, there will be a need to make changes to the operational process, since there are bottlenecks in the granting of visas, which makes it time-consuming.
In order to speed up the process, he said that 45 officers are being trained and will be sent to the different consulates, so that mobility within the CPLP is effective.
Luís Filipe Montenegro Cardoso de Morais Esteves was sworn in on April 2, 2024 as leader of Portugal's XXIV Constitutional Government. The Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition won the March 10 elections by a small margin over the Socialist Party (PS).
In 2023, Angola and Portugal signed 13 bilateral cooperation agreements in Luanda, mainly in the economic and financial fields, at a ceremony witnessed by President João Lourenço and António Costa, the Portuguese prime minister at the time.MR/ART/TED/AMP
