According to a statement from CIPRA, to which VerAngola had access, it was a courtesy visit. "The President of the Republic received a courtesy visit from the former Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe, Jorge Bom Jesus, with whom he spoke about the affinities and shared history between the two countries, still in the period of struggle for liberation", reads in the statement.
On the occasion, the São Tomé official said that they "always take the opportunity to exchange ideas, solutions and join forces to, together", minimize weaknesses. "We are also looking for new paths for our development process and, naturally, Angola is finding solutions for its development process. Therefore, we always take the opportunity to exchange ideas, solutions, and join forces to, together, minimize weaknesses", he said, quoted in the note.
In addition to this courtesy meeting, the head of state also received, throughout the day on Thursday, several religious leaders.
In separate audiences, João Lourenço met during the afternoon with Bishop Tomás Ndawanapo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola (IELA) and Apostle Elias Pedro of the Christian Missionary Church of Angola (AMC), where the country's social challenges were discussed.
"The populations are lamenting, because they are not managing to acquire what they need for their table. This is more what is worrying the populations", said Bishop Tomás Ndawanapo.
According to the statement, the official said he hoped that João Lourenço "takes into account the concerns presented during the hearing, where they also made some considerations around his church".
The apostle Elias Pedro, on the other hand, highlighted "the church's role in the search for solutions to the country's social problems", stating that the church is willing to collaborate with the executive, by acting "as a partner of the State" to help in the development of projects aimed at the well-being of citizens.
"We work in the sense of advising the President to look more at the social area, look more at the fringe of the people who are most disadvantaged, from Cabinda to Cunene", he said, quoted in the statement.
It should be noted that during the morning, the head of state also held separate meetings with other religious leaders, namely Reverend Luís Nguimbi, president of the Angolan Christian Forum; Reverend Deolinda Teca, general secretary of the Council of Christian Churches in Angola; Reverend Francisco Sebastião, president of the Assembly of God Pentecostal Church; Reverend Daniel Ntony-A-Zinga, from the Baptist Church of Angola, and Reverend Estanislau Barro, from the Evangelical Church of Angola.
At these hearings, according to another CIPRA communiqué to which VerAngola had access, the religious leaders spoke with João Lourenço about the "economic, social and religious life of the country".
