The information was provided to Lusa by the president of the Association of Road Transporters of Goods of Angola (Atroma), António Gavião Neto, according to which a decree will soon be published updating the Angolan customs tax, with a value equivalent to what is currently charged by the DRCongo.
Last week, Atroma announced the indefinite suspension of transportation of transporters in the Luanda-Luvo-Noqui logistics corridor, to the province of Cabinda, passing through DRCongo, but which was suspended on Monday following a meeting with operators.
On Thursday, a new meeting was held to report on the ongoing negotiations, with the leader of Atroma expressing satisfaction with the Angolan Government's response to the members' complaints, in statements to the Angolan press.
"We are comforted, because we received the information that our outcry was received by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, who issued very concrete guidelines and by next week we will have the decree ready to move on to reciprocity of actions", said António Gavião Neto, appealing to members to be patient.
This Friday, António Gavião Neto told Lusa that the decree goes towards reciprocity, with equivalence to the customs tariff applied by RDCongo.
"There have already been negotiations, the Congolese side has never agreed with us, so when the decree is published everything will depend on the Congolese side. What is certain is that when they arrive here in our territory they will have to pay the same as we paid in the territory Congolese", he explained.
António Gavião stressed that the Angolan side is open to negotiations, after the publication of the decree, so that a consensus can be reached.
The association leader appealed to all companies associated with Atroma, non-members and individual members, "to be more patient and calm", extending the suspension of the strike for another week, during which the decree should be published.
According to António Gavião Neto, until the reciprocity decree is published, "things will continue as they are".
"It's just one more week, we waited around eight years for the implementation of this measure, now we are facing just one week, let's wait", stressed the president of Atroma, highlighting that he believes that the DRCongo customs authorities are monitoring this movement and reflect on the subject.
"Let's see if they will continue to charge at the same rate, or if, after reflecting carefully on the matter, they have concluded to take another action", he maintained.
Angolan trucks pay 4000 dollars at the DRCongo customs post compared to 100 dollars for their Congolese counterparts at the Angolan border, according to information from Atroma.
