"Portugal continues to be a relevant 'player' in trade with Angola and it's not just food products, it's machines, it's mainly services. Portugal exports many services to Angola, on the contrary Angola imports many services from Portugal. but it remains relevant", said Victor Fernandes.
The official was speaking at the launch of "CaféCIPRA", an initiative of the Press Center of the Presidency of the Republic of Angola, for a direct and open dialogue between Angolan government officials and guests, which is intended to be held every fortnight.
According to the minister, due to the change in recent years, namely the covid-19 pandemic and the increase in national production, many of the products that served the purpose of import via Portugal decreased their export rate.
In turn, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João, reiterated the partnership between the two countries, stressing that Portugal appears in second place in the list of imports.
"We in no way leave Portugal aside, in fact, in terms of imports Portugal is Angola's second largest partner, after China," said the official, stressing that in the last 10 years the two countries have been vying for this position.
Mário Caetano João stressed that China is the biggest partner, both in imports and in exports, a domain where Portugal occupies the sixth place.
"We are by no means leaving Portugal aside. Portugal is in fact one of those traditional trading partners, where we have been investigating exactly these two essential components of economic diplomacy, which is investment and trade", he said.
The head of the Economy and Planning portfolio highlighted that, with Portugal, the Angolan Government manages to form a partnership in these two aspects, unlike what happens with other countries, namely border countries, where only trade increases and little investment.
In the introduction to this first edition, which served to review the last four years of "Economic Diplomacy" developed by the Angolan State and perspectives, Mário Caetano highlighted the gains made by various financial institutions of some resources for the private sector.
"We have the IFC [International Finance Corporation], the private arm of the World Bank, which has made around 1.2 billion dollars available to our business community and has so far approved around US$100 million, not directly in the sector. real estate, but in the financial sector", he stressed.
Mário Caetano João also mentioned the line provided by Deutch Bank with around 1 billion dollars, with 10 projects already approved, in the amount of 340 million dollars.
In Africa, the minister highlighted the 120 million dollars line, which is being operated by the Savings and Credit Bank (BPC).
"This is a summary, as one of the possible windows of economic diplomacy", he indicated.
During the interaction, some concerns were raised, namely the old problem in granting work visas, as described by the president of the United States of America/Angola Chamber of Commerce, Pedro Godinho, as well as the deficit of a qualified workforce, cited by the chairman of the board of directors of the Instituto de Gestão de Activos e Participações (IGAPE).
