Luanda - The Minister of Territorial Administration, Dionísio da Fonseca, has expressed Angola's willingness to collaborate with cities across the Americas and build partnerships through twinning or other interaction mechanisms that bring people closer together, do business and promote the sustainable development of nations.
The minister was speaking on the panel on “the African Diaspora in the Americas”, which is part of the first International Summit on Twin Cities in all the Americas, taking place in the United States of America.
According to the minister, the mechanisms for interaction should also allow people to come closer together, train staff and share cultures, adding that Angola is a country with enormous tourist potential, natural and mineral wealth, giving as an example the Maiombe forest, located in Cabinda.
This forest is the second largest in the world, after the Amazon, which makes it a fundamental ecosystem for guaranteeing environmental balance and sustainability in Africa, and perhaps the world.
“Angola also has the Namib desert, considered to be one of the oldest in the world. It also has rivers, lakes, lagoons, nature reserves such as the Okavango Basin with its unrivalled fauna and flora, mountains and stunning watercourses, such as the Kalandula Falls (Malanje province), which are tourist destinations of excellence for lovers of the beach, sun, safari, sport fishing, adventure, ecological and scientific tourism, among others”, Fonseca said.
Regarding agriculture, the minister said that it is another sector of high potential for investment, since the country has arable lands washed by permanent rivers, where everything imaginable can be produced.
For him, the mining sector is another sector of great prosperity for the country.
“The oil potential is well known and as you know some of the biggest oil companies in the world, based in the US, have been present in Angola since the 1950s”, the official said.
The minister SAID Angola is recognized as a country that guarantees contractual stability, whose tax system favors investment and is open to adapting contracts whenever there are substantial changes in circumstances that could affect their balance.
He considered Angola to be a perfect getaway for investments from the North Atlantic to the South and to the Great Lakes.
“For this reason, the government led by President João Lourenço decided to rehabilitate the Lobito corridor to facilitate the transport of minerals extracted from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia through the Port of Lobito to their final destination”, he explained.
The minister added that strategic investments are also underway in the renewable energy sector, particularly in the construction of photovoltaic and hydroelectric power plants, in order to boost the manufacturing industry, guarantee national energy security and the population's access to cheap and environmentally friendly energy sources.
There are also two fundamental factors that make Angola a prosperous market and a good country to visit, the minister said, the first being the country's political stability, which has contributed to the pacification of other African states, and the second the youth population.
For this reason, he said, the Angolan President was honored with the title of “Champion of the African Union for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa”, due to his commitment to the pacification of the continent, especially in the context of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.
Angola is a coastal country located in South-West Africa that shares borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia (DRC), Namibia and the Republic of Congo. It became independent on November 11, 1975.
OHA/MRA/AMP
