This is said by the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Victor Fernandes, who was speaking during the opening of the 5th Edition of Expo-Indústria, held by the President of the Republic this Wednesday, in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE).
“We are working so that the agroindustry will allow food self-sufficiency in our country, this being one of the ways, but not the only one, of promoting increased production, both agricultural and industrial, which will make it possible to reduce dependence on imports and the creation of more jobs”, he said.
According to Victor Fernandes, Expo-Indústria is back in Angola as an excellent opportunity to reflect on the country's capabilities.
“After three years of absence, Angola once again hosts Expo-Indústria, which returns for its fifth edition. Its opening is conducive to a deep reflection on the potential of our country, the need to relaunch the industrial park, based on development policies towards economic diversification, as well as the creation of jobs and increasingly competitive companies”, he stressed. the minister.
According to the official, the fifth edition of Expo-Indústria has 238 national and international exhibitors, representing seven provinces. The main sectors at the exhibition bring together agribusiness with 8 percent, crafts with 10 percent, banking and insurance with 5 percent, trade and distribution with 12 percent, civil construction with 22 percent, the furniture industry with 5 percent, textiles with 11 percent, oil and gas with 8, restoration with 11, and other services with 15 percent.
The holder of the portfolio made it known that the Industry and Commerce sector has the Industrial Development Plan of Angola in progress, which systematizes the guidelines of the policies guided by the President of the Republic, given its role in the diversification of the economy and in the expansion of investments both public and private in this field.
Among several projects already under way, the operationalization of the industrial development poles, the rural industrial parks and the integrated development plan for rural commerce stand out.
“This plan, among other factors, is boosting trade and industry through freight transport operators, reducing producers' access limitations to markets and increasing, in quantity and quality, trade and industry access to goods. primary,” he explained.
The minister added that of the 22 planned industrial centers, seven are already in operation in the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Cabinda, Huambo, Malanje, Bié, Uíge and Cuanza Norte, with an average reserved area of 1,000 to 2,000 hectares in each from them.
Victor Fernandes referred that of the ten rural industrial parks foreseen for construction, only three are infrastructured and in operation, namely Cacuso, in Malanje, Tomboco, in Zaire and Canjala, in Benguela.
According to the official, Expo-Indústria is one of the biggest events of its kind to be held in Angola, with international recognition and has already secured, definitively, its status as a national industrial showcase.
“It is a true showcase of the robustness of the transformation, as a national production, of the consistent trade and of the emerging industrial sector”, he expressed.
