"I dare to completely rule out the possibility that the future of Angola's economy will revolve around just one sector of the economy. That is, around the extractive sector, with a strong focus on oil, as the figures stubbornly remind us," said the minister, speaking at the closing of the Doing Business Angola-Lisbon conference, held this Monday in the Portuguese capital.
"The Angola of the next 50 years cannot continue to be just the Angola of oil and diamonds. It is in this context that agriculture, tourism and services are presented as the green and blue oil that must be the anchors for the diversification of the economy," he said.
In his speech, among other things, the Minister of Tourism reiterated the Government's commitment to promoting tourism.
"Tourism is (...) our biggest investment. At the political level, the decision has been made: a new ministry dedicated exclusively to tourism has recently been created, its inclusion in the government's economic team, visa exemptions for around 100 countries (...)", he said, adding that "these are measures that demonstrate the government's clear commitment to the tourism sector".
"However, the numbers do not hide the kilometers of road that we still have to travel. To give a simple example, Portugal receives around 56 million foreign tourists every year; in a single day, the number of tourists that Portugal receives is greater than the total number of tourists that Angola receives in a year", he pointed out.
In his speech, Márcio Daniel also made an appeal for investment in the Angolan tourism sector: "Invest in hotels, eco-resorts, theme parks, tourist services, professional training and technology applied to tourism. Be pioneers in the transformation of a country with immense natural and human potential".
Also present at this 3rd edition of the conference was the Portuguese Minister of Economy, Pedro Reis, who said that Portugal "is perfectly available" to assist in the recognition of priority projects for Angola.
"We need to identify which sectors and projects are really of interest – and Portugal is perfectly available", he said, mentioning a "focus on the priorities that Angola identifies so that we can identify the players".
In turn, Ricardo Arroja, president of the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP), pointed out the need to seize opportunities with Angola.
"At AICEP we are an access platform for 700 million people and, in a world that is fragmenting, it is natural that Portugal and Angola have a reinvigorated opportunity to strengthen relations", he said, quoted in a statement from AICEP, to which VerAngola had access.
"We must seize opportunities with Angola. We are organizing events together with AIPEX Angola to identify opportunities in the industrial sector," he said, also highlighting "Angolan growth and macroeconomic stabilization."
"Portugal is available to collaborate with Angola in identifying priority projects, taking advantage of economic complementarities, historical connections and the growing global interest in investing in Africa, with a focus on productivity growth and sustainable development," reads the statement, which adds that Angola is currently the tenth "largest destination for Portuguese goods exports (and the 2nd in Africa), with more than 1.6 billion euros exported in 2023 and a growth of 19 percent compared to 2022."
"More than 20,000 Portuguese companies export to Angola and more than 500 have an active presence in the country. The most prominent sectors include agri-food, beverages, construction, machinery, health and services," adds the AICEP note.
