"Firstly, it was very important to signal at the beginning of my term as Minister of Foreign Affairs and at the beginning of the XXIII Government the importance, the centrality that Angola has for us in our foreign policy", began by saying the minister, who was speaking to press in Luxembourg, after attending a meeting of EU diplomats.
Gomes Cravinho underlined that "Angola is a very important bilateral partner, it also holds the presidency of the CPLP [Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries] at the moment and, therefore, there is a symbolic dimension".
"There is also a practical dimension, because it will allow us to make contact with our economic agents, with the Portuguese community in Angola and obviously, above all, with the Angolan authorities", he continued.
Regarding contacts with the Angolan authorities, the minister pointed out that the objective was mainly to "understand better how they are seeing the bilateral relationship and the framework in which we currently operate, whether in Africa, Europe and in the broader international context generically".
The minister's visit was announced last week in Luanda by Portuguese ambassador Francisco Alegre, at the end of an audience with President João Lourenço, who also received the chairman of the executive committee of Portuguese banking institution Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Paulo Macedo.
The diplomat said on the occasion that when he presented the credentials, he was challenged by the Angolan President for Portugal to play an important role in the process of diversifying Angola's economy.
Francisco Alegre said that he has visited several Portuguese companies, not only in the construction and distribution sector, but also those focused on the industry.
There are "companies that create many quality jobs in Angola and for this strengthening of the Portuguese economic presence in Angola and for us to be able to attract investment from Portuguese reference companies here, it is also essential to have financial muscle (...), this presence of the largest bank Portuguese in Angola is of strategic importance", he said, referring to Caixa Geral de Depósitos.
