Speaking this Thursday, at the investiture ceremony of the new Minister of Youth and Sports, Rui Falcão Pinto de Andrade, João Lourenço considered that culture and sport are important for the life of any people and nation, hence wanting a new dynamic in sport.
"We have just made this change and we trust you with this responsibility of taking care of youth, on the one hand, but also of sport", he said to the new holder of the portfolio, appointed on Wednesday to replace Palmira Barbosa.
For the sports sector, the head of state wants "particular attention" to be paid to the maintenance of sports infrastructures, training and, what he considered "very important", to school sports.
"Try to work with your colleague, the Minister of Education, to better organize school sport, which ends up being the breeding ground for federated sport", he asked to Rui Falcão Pinto de Andrade.
João Lourenço expressed hope for good results in terms of sport in the coming years, saying that the next challenge is the participation of the main football team in the African Cup of Nations (CAN), "which must be prepared now", aiming for a performance that surpasses the country's presence in the recently concluded CAN2023 in Côte d'Ivoire.
The Angolan football team "Palancas Negras" was eliminated in the CAN quarter-finals, after achieving a record of three consecutive victories in the competition.
João Lourenço, who wished the new ministerial leader success, also expressed the desire for the country to "recover the splendor" it achieved in past years in some sports, namely basketball.
He also defended the maintenance of good quality in handball, especially women's, "without derogating from other sports which, fortunately, have also (...) brought joy" to Angolans, he concluded.
The Minister of Youth and Sports promised to carry out a survey of the real situation of Angolan sport, in its various aspects, taking as a starting point school sport and federated sport.
"But, also in the area of youth [we] will work with associations, in order to give another dynamic to this growth process. Children's sport must be rekindled and we will find ways to give another dynamic to national sport", said Rui Falcão Pinto de Andrade.
