“In 2002, the bilateral trade volume between China and Angola was less than US$150 million, but this figure rose last year to US$206.34 billion. This qualitative and quantitative leap witnessed the rapid development of our two nations”, said the diplomat.
According to the Chinese official, over the last 40 years relations between his country and Angola "have achieved considerable development" and cooperation between the two parties has produced "fruitful results" in various fields.
“Economic and commercial cooperation has always been the high point of this cooperation, promoted in a pragmatic way. Especially in the past 20 years, the two sides have truly formed a pattern of cooperation for the convergence of our interests, establishing a mutually beneficial and 'win-win' model between China and Africa,” he noted.
China and Angola celebrated 40 years of cooperation and diplomatic relations with the Angola-China Business Forum (FONAC), which took place in Luanda with dozens of businessmen from both countries.
Gong Tao, who was speaking at the opening of FONAC, said, citing preliminary data from the embassy he supervises, that the number of Chinese companies in Angola exceeded 400 and the volume of investment exceeded 24 billion dollars.
Investment by Chinese companies in the Portuguese-speaking country covered several sectors, he said, noting that in agriculture Chinese companies invested and operated in several farms spread across the national territory.
“Cooperation in infrastructure has a solid basis for economic and sustainable development”, he stressed, recalling, at the same time, that in 2002, after the end of the armed conflict in Angola, China was the first country that “extended its hands” to the reconstruction.
“Also, in 2002, China was the first country to extend its hands to offer strong support to the national reconstruction of Angola, since bilateral cooperation in infrastructure entered the fast lane, since then Chinese companies in the areas of infrastructure have realized thousands of projects that benefited millions of people”, he pointed out.
Alluding to “incomplete” statistics on Chinese Financing Support, Gong Tao underlined that Chinese companies helped to recover and build 2800 kilometers of railway, 20 thousand kilometers of roads, more than 100 thousand houses, more than 100 schools and more than 50 hospitals.
The Caculo Cabaça hydroelectric power station, under construction in the province of Cuanza Norte, and the New Luanda International Airport, in the final stages of construction, "are structural projects with a great impact on the national economy of society and on the daily lives of citizens", he stressed.
He also said that his country has helped Angola in the development of its digital infrastructure.
China "has been Angola's biggest trading partner for many consecutive years and Angola has become China's second biggest trading partner and the biggest supplier of crude oil in Africa," he noted.
He also stated that in recent years, Angolan products such as coffee, beer, ornamental rocks, minerals and others "have appeared successively" in the Chinese market, and "at the same time Chinese brand vehicles and mobile phones circulate on the streets of Angola", concluded the Chinese diplomat.
FONAC includes, on its agenda, the discussion of various topics, such as the importance of human capital development and the role of the Staff Training Plan, economic diversification and attracting foreign direct investment and the signing of cooperation agreements between Angolan institutions and Chinese.
