Hakainde Hichilema makes a 72-hour visit at the invitation of his Angolan counterpart, João Lourenço, with whom he plans to meet on Wednesday, after a visit to the Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto.
According to the visit programme, delegations from both countries will meet in bilateral meetings and proceed to the signing of various legal instruments.
Among the agreements, there is the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Government of the Republic of Angola and the Government of the Republic of Zambia for the construction of the border connection roads between Angola and Zambia, Via Jimbe - Mwinulunga and Via Mapelenga (Malundo) – Sikongo.
The set of legal instruments also provides for a memorandum of understanding between the National School of Administration and Public Policies of the Republic of Angola (ENAPP) and the National Institute of Public Administration of the Republic of Zambia (NIPA, in its English acronym), the memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of the Republic of Angola and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Zambia.
The program also indicates the signing of an agreement between the two countries on the creation of a Binational Commission, the memorandum of understanding between the Private Investment and Export Promotion Agency (AIPEX) and the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) and the memorandum of understanding between the National Institute of Quality Infrastructures – INIQ, from Angola, and the Zambia Bureau of Standards – ZABS, from Zambia, in the areas of Standardisation, Conformity Assessment and Training.
Hakainde Hichilema is due to speak at the National Assembly, and then travel to Benguela province, where he is expected to see "in loco" the economic potential of that region in the south of the country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlights in a press release that Angola continues to be a strategic partner in relations with Zambia and that the two countries share a long common border.
"The high point of relations between Angola and Zambia is marked with the visit that His Excellency President João Lourenço made to Zambia in May 2018", stresses the note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressing that, on that visit, there were Five bilateral cooperation agreements were signed, currently totaling 14 legal instruments in the most varied domains, including the signing of visa exemption agreements in all national passports.
This is the first official State visit to Angola by Hakainde Hichilema and the first that the Zambian government official makes this year.
