Speaking to journalists on the island of Sal, after meeting the Angolan head of State, who stopped this afternoon at Amílcar Cabral International Airport on a trip to New York, the prime minister acknowledged that bilateral relations and the implementation of the agreements reached between the two countries were affected, in its execution, by the covid-19 pandemic, but he stressed that economic cooperation with Angola "has a very wide field of development".
"Following the visit I made in 2018, we signed a set of protocols that, unfortunately, due to the situation at covid-19, has been difficult to implement, but let's go back. There is a desire on both sides, particularly in the air transport sector, to make good use of the two locations, Luanda in south and central Africa, and Cape Verde in western Africa, building bridges between Africa, Europe and the Americas," he explained.
"And the fact is that today we have an Angolan company operating in the air transport sector, in domestic flights, BestFly. We have an interesting field of development and we will discuss it when I go to Luanda, to participate in the summit [of CPLP, in July], see how we can resume these areas of cooperation, particularly economic cooperation," said the head of the Government of Cape Verde, a country that currently holds the rotating presidency of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).
Ulisses Correia e Silva says the two countries can strengthen economic relations, particularly in transport.
"Essentially attracting private investment and private participation. Governments create the conditions for investments to happen, for entrepreneurs to seize opportunities, and for example this is happening in inter-island air transport. We have possibilities to establish good partnerships in international air transport. , also in the maritime sector. This is what will be worked on so that we can give new impetus," he said.
Cape Verde assumed the rotating presidency of the CPLP at the XII summit of heads of state and government of the organization, held in July 2018, on the island of Sal, succeeding Brazil, which was extended for another year due to the pandemic.
At the Luanda summit, on 16 and 17 July, Angola will assume the presidency of the organization, after the expected approval of the internal mobility agreement prepared by Cape Verde, a topic that was also on the table at the meeting between Ulisses Correia e Silva and João Lourenço.
"Essentially the preparation of the Luanda summit, the CPLP summit, taking into account that Angola assumes the presidency, we wish the Angolan presidency much success and it certainly will be," said the Cape Verdean prime minister.
The Angolan CPLP presidency will focus on economic relations, something that for Ulisses Correia e Silva "interests all" member states.
