Last week Jorge Santos maintained several institutional contacts, namely with the Angolan ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Interior and with the acting president of the National Assembly of Angola, and this Sunday his visit ended with a meeting with the Cape Verdean community, in Luanda.
"We had a meeting with the Minister of the Interior and I was happy to hear the good integration of good Cape Verdean citizens, here perfectly integrated and who are proud of their Angolan citizenship, but also of their origin in Cape Verde", said Jorge Santos to the Lusa agency.
With the head of Angolan diplomacy, stressed Jorge Santos, he reviewed the "good cooperation and excellent special relations" between the two countries, in the field of air and maritime transport, economic relations, and education and health.
"Angola is a country with which Cape Verde maintains excellent relations, we want more and more consolidation of the agreements and cooperation protocols that until now have been initialed between the two States", he said.
The second major objective of the visit, Jorge Santos mentioned, was also to maintain contact with the community, which included contacts between Cape Verdean and Angolan businessmen with interests in the archipelago, and a trip to Benguela province, on the south coast of the country.
"I shared what the Government is doing, we launched this whole process of acquiring nationality of origin, but also the process of mapping the Cape Verdean diaspora, as well as the whole process of promoting the investor status of communities in the diaspora", highlighted.
According to the minister, a campaign was launched on the consular portal of Cape Verde, a new instrument, which has been in operation since last year and which allows communities to have access to a set of digital services, from a passport to a power of attorney, going through a driving license "which was the biggest claim" of Cape Verdeans in the diaspora.
"This process of acquiring nationality of origin is free until December 31, 2023 and is having an impact. At the moment there are a large number of Cape Verdeans and descendants acquiring their nationalities, since the Cape Verdean document is credible, it allows some mobility and justice is also being done", he underlined.
The Cape Verdean official said that his country's community comprises around 120,000 original Cape Verdeans and descendants up to the fourth generation.
"These are Cape Verdeans who entered Angola mainly from 1947 onwards, after the great droughts and famines in Cape Verde. The second and third generations with a lot of social ascension are perfectly integrated here, participating in economic and cultural life, in defence, in education, in health. In all sectors of activity in Angola we find Cape Verdeans proud of their Angolan citizenship, but also proud of their Cape Verdean origin", he stressed.
Jorge Santos visited this Sunday, after meeting with the community, a fair in which Cape Verdean companies went "to show what they do, and that they are truly integrated in this community".
"It has been a very frank dialogue, they are asking for a Cape Verde House here in Luanda, I believe that we are in a position to move forward with this project at the Government level. We are already working on this possibility and we will move forward to mediate with the associations here in Angola and carry forward this Cape Verde house in Angola", he stressed.
This is one of the subjects that Jorge Santos is expected to address on Monday with the deputy governor of Luanda, before leaving Angola.
