Luanda - Angola and the US signed Wednesday an open skies air services agreement and a memorandum of consultations in the civil aviation field, which aims to promote a strong international aviation system between the two countries, ANGOP has learnt.
According to the note, the agreement and the memorandum are based on the healthy competition of its airlines and with Angola's direct access to the world's largest civil aviation system.
The signatories were the Angolan minister of Transportation, Ricardo Viegas D'Abreu, and the US Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg.
The Angolan minister said "the signing of these two documents, namely the open skies air services agreement, represents another step in Angola's consolidation in the world air space, especially with the new international airport on the horizon.
"This new and modern infrastructure is in line with the best international technological practices was designed to receive the largest aircraft, a fact that will also place Angola on the most important commercial and tourism routes of the United States, both of which are fundamental for the socio-economic development of our country," the Angolan minister said.
Pete Buttigieg, on his turn, said the new airport is extremely important for the development of the sub-Saharan region of Africa and a strong lever for its development.
The US official clarified that the great bet of the American policy, in this matter, is based on security, comfort and passenger experience, whether in aviation, maritime or rail transport, or even in small things such as boarding places, mainly the issue related to renewable energy.
The agreement enables the airlines of both countries to offer to the public a wide range of service options, with innovative and competitive prices.
The documents signed by the two States facilitate the expansion of international air transport opportunities for both countries, at a unique moment for Angola, just months before the inauguration of Luanda’s new airport.
The agreement guarantees the highest degree of safety and security in international air transportation and reaffirms the parties’ extreme concern with acts or threats against the security of aircraft, which endanger the safety of persons or property and adversely affect the operation of air transportation and undermine public confidence in the safety of civil aviation.
Both the United States of America and the Republic of Angola are parties to the Convention on International Civil Aviation signed in Chicago on December 7 ,1944.
The meeting also discussed issues of great relevance for the two governments, namely in the maritime and port areas, in which Angola intends to extend its strategic cooperation relations with the US, particularly in the maritime safety and port infrastructure, free trade zones and their development.
The US government recently approved an investment package of 1.2 billion US dollars for Angola, with one of the country's priorities being to modernise and expand transport and logistics systems at a national level, with the aim to establish itself as a regional port hub capable of boosting the economy of the entire sub-Saharan African coast and the international economy that directly cooperates with it.
