The III plenary session of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission took place this Tuesday, in Luanda, led by the heads of diplomacy of Portugal, João Gomes Cravinho, and of Angola, Téte António, with the IV session scheduled for Lisbon, in 2024 .
According to the final communiqué of the meeting, progress was made in the negotiations of legal instruments, such as the Strategic Cooperation Program Portugal - Angola 2023-2027, which could be initialed in June during the visit of the head of the Portuguese Government.
Among the legal instruments reviewed, there is also a memorandum of understanding in the field of Training, Laboratory Support, Exchange of Information and Sharing of Good Practices between the National Authority for Economic Inspection and Food Safety of Angola (ANIESA) and the Food Safety Authority and Economy (AESA) Portuguese.
The Cooperation Protocol between the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) and ASAE, the Memorandum of Understanding between the National Institute of Quality Infrastructures (INIQ) and the Portuguese Quality Institute (IPQ) regarding the Cooperation Agreement – License Agreement of Use of the Portuguese Version of European Standards were also reviewed.
The final communiqué also highlights the Protocol of Cooperation between the National Directorate for Sea Affairs of Angola and the General Directorate of Sea Policy, as well as the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technologies of Angola and the Space Agency Portugal, the Cooperation Protocol on Military Health, the Cooperation and News Exchange Agreement between the Angola Press Agency (Angop) and the Portuguese News Agency (Lusa), among others.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, who was accompanied by the Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Sea, Social Security and Agriculture, this joint intergovernmental commission covered all areas of cooperation between the two countries.
João Gomes Cravinho referred that the working meeting served to take stock of the cooperation between the two countries, which he considered “very positive”, as well as to make “a projection for the future”.
“The more immediate future, because soon we will have the visit to Angola by the Prime Minister of Portugal, which will also be a very rich visit, particularly in the economic field, but also by businessmen and a projection for a broader future, namely looking at the period of the Strategic Cooperation Program between Portugal and Angola 2023-2027”, he stressed.
The minister highlighted "the nature" of the meeting and also its "substance" by the number of areas identified by the two delegations, which "reflect the richness of the relationship" between Angola and Portugal.
“Not only do we talk about our bilateral relations, but we also talk about international and regional issues and, above all, we also identify those areas that we think we need to take a step further in terms of legal instruments”, he stressed.
“Hence the existence of legal instruments that we have identified, many of which will be signed during the visit of the Prime Minister [of Portugal] to Luanda, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Angola, João Lourenço”, he added.
