João Lourenço was addressing Spanish and Angolan businessmen this Wednesday at a business forum taking place at the Epic Sana hotel in Luanda, in which King Felipe VI is also participating, who is on the third and last day of his official visit to Angola.
The head of state spoke about the opportunities that Spanish companies, with a high degree of internationalization, offer to facilitate penetration in other markets and contribute to the dynamism and diversification of Angolan exports.
He focused in particular on the agri-food sector, "one of the strongest in the Spanish economy", whose Angolan products enjoy great international acceptance and encouraged partnerships in the agri-food and pharmaceutical industry.
"We are going to make efforts to build a pharmaceutical industrial complex in Angola with the potential to serve the local market and neighboring countries, with the recognized quality of Spanish products", he stressed.
João Lourenço also addressed opportunities in other sectors such as fisheries, commerce, tourism, energy and water, construction or telecommunications and presented the possibilities of the privatization program under which more than 90 assets have already been sold.
Addressing around 40 heads of invited Spanish companies, the President said that the program "must continue to be implemented with mechanisms that ensure its smoothness and transparency", appealing to Spanish investors to consider these assets.
"Our Government is willing to deepen economic and business relations between our two countries", he reinforced, suggesting working together to secure financing and credit lines to support exports, internationalization of companies and the expansion of business in Angola.
João Lourenço pointed to the mutually advantageous cooperation that he has maintained with Spain and underlined the objective of having a fair and equitable society in Angola based on equality for all citizens and with an emphasis on human development that guarantees the sustained growth of the economy.
In this process, he highlighted, Angola has been counting on financing from the Spanish bank and lines of credit that have made it possible to finance important infrastructures, namely hospitals, research centers in fisheries, electrification and water supply projects, construction of airports and universities or aircraft for surveillance from the sea coast.
The head of state also noted that despite the crises that have affected the world economy, business communities have shown resilience and creativity and are committed to recovering the growth of economies.
He stressed that Angola has resumed a growth trajectory in 2021, which should not be interrupted and, therefore, has taken "important steps to create a favorable climate for private investment", of which trust is a fundamental element.
"We have been working to restore the confidence of economic agents, which is why we are deepening the foundations of the democratic State based on the rule of law and consolidating the market economy, promoting the emergence of a strong and competitive private sector that will be an engine for the growth of Angola", said the Angolan leader, also underlining the success of the macroeconomic stability programme.
