According to Luís Cupenala, the portfolio of current investments and future forecasts between Angola and China justify the conclusion of the agreement, as trade between the two countries, especially in the last three years, has a "significant weight" in Angola's balance of payments .
Regarding the 40 years of cooperation and bilateral relations between Luanda and Beijing, marked with the Angola-China Business Forum, the CAC leader referred that China played an "inalienable and crucial" role in the foundations of the Angolan project by financing the construction and reconstruction of the country's basic infrastructure.
He considered the basic infrastructure financed by the Chinese Government as "main arteries" that allowed the "revival" of the Angolan economy with the resumption of normal circulation of people and goods, the exercise of commerce, industry, agriculture and the creation of the business environment for attracting foreign direct investment.
He highlighted, in his speech at the opening of FONAC, which took place in Luanda, Chinese investment in railway, hydroelectric, port and airport infrastructure and housing projects as assets included in the "historical collection of cooperation".
Angola and China officially established diplomatic relations on January 12, 1983, four decades of cooperation celebrated with FONAC, which brought together Angolan and Chinese businessmen and government entities from both countries.
Luís Cupenala noted that the CAC currently brings together 112 companies, including Angolan companies with Chinese capital, Angolan companies with Angolan capital and from other geographies, as well as seven Chinese associations set up according to the economic potential of their home provinces.
According to the official, the business sector registers an improvement in the portfolio of investments in projects with greater prominence, in the sectors of construction, agriculture, fisheries, livestock, real estate, commerce, industry, health, education, hotels and tourism, energy, mining, telecommunications , oil, dealership representatives of various brands of vehicles and construction and mining equipment.
"Among these projects, some have already been implemented and others are in the execution phase, expected to be inaugurated later this year and others in 2024, expected to absorb more than 100,000 jobs for young Angolans", he noted.
Despite the "adverse" international economic context, private investment "will increase with the entry of more Chinese companies into the Angolan market", he assured.
For the leader of the CAC, the end of a 40-year cycle represents the "strategic inflation point and allows us to jointly assess the gains and benefits between the two peoples and nations".
It also enables the "correction of fractured points, the improvement of good practices and achievements" which are, "essentially, presuppositions for laying the foundations for the beginning of a new chapter that begins now with the holding of FONAC, allowing to visualize the future of a country with hard work that requires everyone's engagement today and in the future", he stressed.
In this forum, three cooperation agreements between Angolan and Chinese companies were also signed.
The business group Leonor Carrinho signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the Chinese CITIC Construction Angola Co, the CAC initialed an agreement with the Special Economic Zone (ZEE) Luanda-Bengo for the promotion of infrastructure and another an agreement on the promotion of Barra do Dande Free Integrated Development Zone, Bengo province.
The promotion of economic zones, "as development pivots", like the Luanda-Bengo ZEE and the Barra do Dande Free Trade Zone, are other areas of strategic interest, noted Luís Cupenala.
"The interest is aimed at promoting these assets in forums, 'workshops', 'roadshows' at the international market level through similar chambers and Chinese financial organizations, with the institutional support of AIPEX [Private Investment and Export Promotion Agency] and other ministerial bodies of the Angolan Government", he added.
