According to a statement from the Ministry of Economy and Planning, which VerAngola had access to, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João, and the head of the EU delegation, Jeannette Seppen, signed the agreements.
"The Minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João, and the head of the European Union delegation, Jeannette Seppen, signed, this Thursday, three Angola-European Union financing agreements, valued at a total of more than 120.1 million euros, which will be made available within the framework of the Multiannual Indicative Program (PIP) 2021/2027 of the European Union", reads the note.
Of the initialed agreements, the first is budgeted at 40 million euros and concerns a program to revitalize the agricultural field, whose objective is to revitalize the network of agricultural technical institutes in the country.
"The first convention, valued at 40 million euros, deals with the Revitalization of Agricultural Education and Professional Training in Angola", whose "objective is to revitalize the network of agricultural technical institutes in Angola, made up of 12 institutes, through three axes of intervention", says the communiqué.
Thus, adds the note, the first axis concerns the "curricular review, to enhance the employability of students in the agricultural sector and encourage a better adaptation of the agricultural sector to climate change and the nutritional needs of the country".
The second axis is related to the transformation of the institutes, while the third axis involves "improving the infrastructures of the institutes".
In turn, the second agreement now signed is aimed at Support for the Formalization of the Economy, "including Social Protection and Support for the Management of Public Finances".
"This program is valued at 62.6 million euros and will be co-financed by the French Development Agency at the height of 2.6 million euros", adds the statement.
This program aims to support the "expansion and strengthening of the sustainability of the Informal Economy Reconversion Program (PREI), launched in 2020", as well as this program also intends to "contribute to reforms in the field of public finance management from the country".
"After the first budget support of 20 million euros, granted by the European Union during the period 2020/2022, this program will provide a second budget support of a maximum amount of 45 million euros during the period 2023 to 2025", clarifies the guardianship note.
According to Jeanette Seppen, this support will be "complemented by technical assistance worth 4.7 million euros to be mobilized in the third quarter of 2023, to support" the Government in the implementation of the PREI.
Finally, the third agreement focuses on support measures and is budgeted at 17.5 million euros.
"It is intended that this program will contribute to the successful preparation, implementation, evaluation and visibility of cooperation between the European Union and Angola, and that it will promote a more coherent and informed approach to political dialogue and community support for development in the country ", says the statement.
In addition, it is also expected that, with this program, there will be "greater ease of technical cooperation and dialogue for the implementation of the partnership" 'Joint Path' that will enable "the mobilization of short and long-term technical capacity".
It should be noted that the signing act – which took place in the Carlos Rocha "Dilolwa" press room, at the guardianship headquarters – had the testimony of the ambassadors of Spain and the Netherlands, in Angola respectively, as well as the representative of the French Developments.
