According to a statement from the Ministry of Economy and Planning, to which VerAngola had access, the national delegation that has been visiting the Czech Republic since the beginning of this week, presented – this Wednesday (May 10), at the Republica business forum Czech-Angola, organized by AIPEX, under the invitation of the Minister of Industry and Commerce of that country –, to Czech businessmen a set of opportunities that exist in Angola, within the framework of the diversification of the national economy.
Speaking at the end of the event, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João – who heads the delegation – referred that the country remains focused on the diversification of the economy.
"We are not talking in a generic way, we are talking about mobility, from the assembly of trucks, trams (public transport), which can be assembled in the Special Economic Zone, we are also talking about the agribusiness industry, which are made in Angola, not only those from agro-food transformation, but also components to increase production, for example, irrigation systems, seed and fertilizer production", said the official, quoted in the statement.
Furthermore, he added, Czech businessmen can also be "the catalysts in the process of replacing thermal energy sources" with clean sources "as is the case with wind and solar".
In turn, the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock, João Cunha, before the businessmen, "reinforced the message" of the minister, having also said that Angola "wants investment in grains (corn, rice, wheat and soy), tropical fruits, exploitation and local transformation of wood and agricultural mechanization", adds the statement.
While the Secretary of State for Commerce, Amadeu Nunes, left assurances that there are conditions for businessmen "to install their industries in the country and explore the potential of the entire SADC region, taking advantage of the comparative advantages that the country has".
At the forum, Walter Pacheco, Chairman of the Board of Directors (PCA) of the Angolan Debt and Stock Exchange (Bodiva), presented the opportunities offered by the privatization program and the evolution of the stock exchange.
Lucas Martin, Director of International Relations at the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, also mentioned in the statement, said that the pandemic prevented personal contact, stressing that now is the time to make up for lost time.
"We had a covid-19 pandemic that prevented us from having personal contact, it is time to make up for lost time, and we hope that this relationship between the Czech Republic and Angola is at the beginning", said Lucas Martin, and added: "We will mobilize our affiliates and present them to potential partners in Angola".
Adriano Celso Borja, executive director of the ZEE, made it known that the Luanda-Bengo economic zone maintained contact with representatives of around 30 companies "with a lot of experience in the area of energy, transforming industry and car assembly", with whom it established contacts at the in order for them to be able to participate in the "infrastructure of new plots with electricity and for the installation of the aforementioned manufacturing units".
According to the executive director of the ZEE, these businessmen "expressed their interest in participating in the next edition of Filda 2023, which will take place next July, with the aim of demonstrating their potential in their respective areas and getting to know the Special Economic Zone on the ground" .
"Entrepreneurs from the energy sector guarantee that in the next three months they will mobilize more partners to develop the quadrants to be infrastructured in the viana reserve of the ZEE", he added.
In turn, Lello Francisco, chairman of the Board of Directors of AIPEX considered "that events like this should be intensified so that the Angolan market is better known by the Czech market and increase trade" between both countries.
"We must increase the presence of Angolan products, even if it means starting with ornamental stones, but also opening up the national market to Czech products", he said, quoted in the note, which adds that mining companies interested in investing in Angola were identified.
It should be noted that the revitalization of economic-business relations and academic collaboration dominated the meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavsky, and the Minister of Economy and Planning, which also took place this Wednesday, in Prague.
At the end of the meeting, Mário Caetano João said that "there is a strong appetite to see the economic relations between this country and Angola reactivated, irrigation equipment, means of urban mobility and goods transport, agricultural mechanization equipment, higher productivity techniques, logistics and renewable energies".
"We also saw the products that can already be exported to the Czech Republic, namely tropical fruits and ornamental rocks", said the minister, quoted in another statement from the ministry, which VerAngola had access to.
According to the official, the resumption of the scholarship process for, mainly, the specialty of "agrarian economics, since Angola, in addition to increasing production, needs to carry out good feasibility studies for the sector". In addition, he added that the foundations have been laid and that they will "now ensure that in the exercise of diplomatic cooperation these issues are part of the agenda."
According to the statement, the meeting also addressed the invitation to João Lourenço, President of the Republic, to visit Prague in the near future "in order to accelerate the revitalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries", whose invitation "should be formalized shortly".
However, adds the note, the Czech Foreign Minister is going to visit Angola. At the invitation of his Angolan counterpart, Téte António, Jan Lipavsky will visit Luanda "on the 12th and 13th of next June and there will certainly be reciprocity with the visit of Minister Téte to Prague".
