Pedro Pessoa e Costa leaves for Norway. Francisco Alegre Duarte will be Portugal's new ambassador to Angola

The change, as well as the names, had been circulating for a few months in diplomatic circles, but only recently was it officially implemented with the appointment of Francisco Alegre Duarte as Portugal's new ambassador to Angola on 24 December, while Pedro Pessoa e Costa saw this week published his appointment as ambassador of Portugal in Oslo.

For Pedro Pessoa e Costa, the change that takes place about two years after taking office is not unusual, stemming from diplomatic turnover.

Speaking to Lusa, the ambassador stressed that he remains in a post for "as long as the Portuguese State deems necessary" and makes an "extremely positive" assessment of his time in Angola, both in personal and professional terms.

"It is difficult to find a post that is as interesting, as challenging, as attractive and, at times, as strenuous as Angola", where his arrival practically coincided with the beginning of the pandemic, with Angola having closed borders on March 21.

"That maxim, first it is strange, then it is ingrained, applies a lot here to Angola", he said, stressing that he "appreciates Angola and the Angolan people more and more" and that the relationship between Portugal and Angola "is unique". .

Assuming that its passage was very limited by the pandemic, which required additional efforts from Portuguese diplomacy, to support repatriation/humanitarian flights during its months in which air connections were suspended, it still pointed to a closer relationship with the community and Portuguese companies as one of the hallmarks of its mandate.

He estimates that he had meetings with almost a hundred Portuguese businessmen and visited more than three dozen companies: "I ensured the proximity that seemed to be absent and that seems to be recognized by many", he said, highlighting the recent launch of the Portugal-Angola forum as an opportunity for the business community in Angola to create more ties and give more visibility to their skills.

And if it already had a "good image" of Portuguese companies, it was reinforced after seeing how they work in Angola, stating that they are prepared to reinvent themselves and diversify areas of activity, and to face the entry of new competitors, given the onslaught of Angola in search of international investors.

"(Portuguese companies) create jobs and kept that job during the crisis, these companies are always reinventing themselves and have also started to diversify", he stressed, stressing that, to be in the Angolan market, it is necessary to understand it, sharing the same language is also an advantage in the business world.

"It will take a long time until several Angolans prefer a Chilean wine to a Portuguese one, we have a common past and an affective bond", declared Pedro Pessoa e Costa.
For the rest, "everything is in constant change" and companies will even be able to form partnerships with those in other countries, he suggests.

As for the upcoming general elections, scheduled for August, and which he will no longer follow, he admits that there is an increase in political and social tensions, "which is not unique to Angola, as any electoral period is a time of tension in Any country".

"What I hope, because I believe in the future of the country, and that these electoral processes are increasingly normalized. I am sure that efforts will be made on the part of all parties so that the electoral act is also an appeal to citizenship of Angolans, both those who live in Angola and those in the diaspora, and that everything will go well", said the diplomat.

Reiterating "the great respect" he feels for the Angolan people "who always deserve the best", Pedro Pessoa e Costa expects to move to the land of cod during the next two months, taking advantage of this period to say goodbye in Angola, but also to prepare for the new post.

From Norway, he highlights the "very balanced" bilateral relationship he maintains with Portugal and the common interests in areas such as renewable energy, the oceans and the economy of the sea.