"Africa is a continent that needs several friends. We will live in a world increasingly polarized between the United States and China, one as the incumbent power, the other as the challenging power," said Paulo Portas, on the sidelines of the presentation of the study "Banking in Analysis 2021" by the consulting firm Deloitte Angola.
"It seems clear to me that Africa needs the Americans to come back, the Chinese not to leave, and the Europeans to realize that one of the strategic spaces for Europe, for many reasons, is Africa," he considered.
The jurist, university professor, former minister, and current business consultant also highlighted the possibility that next year the investment facilitation agreement between the European Union and Angola will be negotiated, in which Portugal had "a good influence" and which he considered to be very interesting for both parties.
"I think that Europe has to look at Africa from a strategic point of view and in depth, and that investments have to imply knowledge and technology transfer so that Africa, more quickly, can create its own opportunities," he underlined.
Paulo Portas also noted that in a globalized world, "those who want to export need to have open markets and those who need investment need to present the advantages of their country to the various stakeholders," pointing to the example of Portugal, which "has expressed well the difference between its security alliances and its friendships in commercial terms.
Questioned about the attractiveness of Angola, he considered that the country has made a set of structural reforms and in legislative terms, of which he highlighted the stabilization of the exchange rate policy, whose results are not immediate.
"The path is made by walking, the reforms do not take effect the next day, but it seems evident to me that 2022 will already be a year of growth and will put an end to the years of recession," he indicated.
During the meeting, Paulo Portas analyzed the geo-economics of the pandemic and the differences in the pace of economic recovery between three major world blocks: Europe, America and Asia, particularly China, in face of the pandemic circumstances.
For Paulo Portas, the quick response of some Asian countries to this emergency has to do with the "pandemic memory" of other crises of this century compared to Europe and the US, "which acted too late.
