The intentions were expressed, in Praia, by the Cape Verdean Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Gilberto Silva, and by the Angolan counterpart, Ana Paula Pereira, who is in Cape Verde for an agenda of work meetings and visits to projects linked to the environment.
"We achieved this exchange of experience with Portugal and now we are doing it with Cape Verde. What we intend, in a way, is to bring positive experiences from Cape Verde", said the Angolan official, after a meeting with her Cape Verdean counterpart.
"We think that, with this, to increasingly seal the ties that unite us around the CPLP [Community of Portuguese Language Countries], the language that unites us, which is an aspect that facilitates us, in some aspects they will be better than us, in others we will be better than you, so let's make this synergy between our countries so that we have an increasingly stronger CPLP", he said.
Among the positive experiences in Cape Verde, the Minister of the Environment pointed to the issue of waste, in which her country already makes some separation, but "in a timid way", and wants to be "more active" in this issue with glass, paper and plastic.
She also pointed to the Cape Verde Environment Fund, indicating that Angola also has a similar initiative, but that it still cannot get external funding and there are not many actions aimed at the environment.
"So we want to exchange this experience because we also saw the good functioning of the Environment Fund here in Cape Verde", continued the same source, also indicating as possible areas of cooperation environmental technologies, water and sanitation, climate action or biodiversity and conservation.
"In conservation areas we have to improve in terms of animal restocking, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of tourism itself, in which Cape Verde is a leader", said Ana Paula Pereira, saying that the meeting is the "point of departure" to prepare a memorandum of understanding between countries with specific areas of cooperation.
Cape Verde's Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Gilberto Silva, underlined that his country is essentially oceanic, very different from Angola, considering that everything that has to do with the administration of the sea and marine protected areas can be one of the aspects to be taken into account in count.
"A country may be small, but the challenges remain big and very similar to the challenges of countries that are much bigger. Here we are going to learn from each other", he said, defending, however, that environmental problems and solutions are not copied, but applied considering the reality of each country.
The legal framework and institution in the water and sanitation sector, environmental taxation, resource mobilization, environmental management in municipalities were other solutions and practices that the minister considered likely to "inspire others".
"There are a number of subjects in which the objective is not exactly to teach the other, it is how each one does it and how we can learn from each other", said Silva, saying that Cape Verde can take advantage of Angola's experience with its directorate of technologies and environmental education.
