João Lourenço, who was speaking this Monday at the celebrations of the 47 years of existence of the Angolan Navy, acknowledged that the Angolan State has carried out over many years, due to the nature of its armed conflict, a greater investment in infrastructure and equipment largest in military assets for the army and air force.
"Once peace was achieved, the Angolan State began to pay increasing attention to the need to strengthen the Angolan Navy with land infrastructure, maritime vessels of all categories and maritime surveillance systems to protect its immense maritime coast, which extends for about 1650 kilometres", said João Lourenço.
The head of state, who traveled this Monday to the municipality of Soyo, province of Zaire, inaugurated the Naval Base of Soyo, to serve as the northern naval region and the country to display "the patrol, interception and military transport vessels, which are part of a batch of means contracted to the naval company Privinvest Shipbuilding Investments under Presidential Dispatch No. 258/16, of August 29, 2016".
The presidential dispatch mentioned a batch of 17 patrol, interceptor and military transport vessels, including spare parts for a total amount equivalent in kwanzas to 495 million euros.
The President stressed that more recently the State commissioned the company Abu Dhabi Ship Building to build three modern corvettes and support vessels, and two Aibus C295 aircraft had also been purchased from the Kingdom of Spain, which should arrive in the country later this year, equipped for reconnaissance and maritime surveillance missions.
According to João Lourenço, negotiations are underway with the competent authority for the possibility of also acquiring naval assets.
"The country must invest in more maritime bases to house these fleets that tend to grow in number and size of vessels, as well as investing in a naval shipyard to maintain the fleets and start building warships in Angola, an embryo for the industry Angolan Navy", he stressed.
The Angolan President and Commander-in-Chief of the Angolan Armed Forces stressed that, due to its geographical position, Angola, together with other states in the central and southern regions of Africa, must be prepared to contribute to the security of the Gulf of Guinea, "an important maritime route to the international trade".
João Lourenço also expressed concern about the growing deterioration of peace and security in different parts of the world, starting with Africa, where terrorism and insurgencies of different motivations threaten their populations and the already fragile economies.
"Some of the immediate and most visible consequences of armed conflicts are, in addition to the high number of deaths, the frightening number of internally displaced people, refugees in neighboring countries, immigrants manipulated by human trafficking networks, the increase in hunger, disease, of poverty and misery", he said, adding that "the situation is not better in other parts of the globe", namely in the Middle East, in the conflict between Palestine and Israel, in Europe, with the war between Russia and Ukraine.
According to João Lourenço, "these and other conflicts that proliferate around the world only make the urgent need for reform of the United Nations, in particular its Security Council and the financial institutions of Bretton Woods after the end of World War II, as they no longer reflect the political, economic, demographic and other realities of today's world".
"Africa, Latin America and Asia claim the right to occupy seats as permanent members of the Security Council, not only to defend the rights of their respective peoples, but also to be an active part of the decisions to be taken on the global affairs of our planet , such as peace and security, food security, energy security, public health, international trade, climate and environmental protection, among other matters", he stressed.
