The information was advanced, this Wednesday, by Mário Caetano João, Minister of Economy and Planning. Speaking to the press – cited by Angop –, at the end of a meeting with Reta Jo Lewis, president of Exim Bank, the minister made it known that the AfDB has already assumed the commitment to invest in the corridor.
Alongside the said financial institution, according to the minister, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency – a member of the World Bank – intends to ensure the operations of the consortium responsible for managing the corridor, writes Angop.
According to the head of the Economy and Planning portfolio, the consortium will inject between 300 and 400 million dollars aimed at increasing the train fleet, while the World Bank has committed itself to approximately 300 million dollars in order to contribute to the production of grains.
Cited by Angop, the minister referred that the World Bank's vision is to call some logistic platforms to Angolan soil, with the aim of assisting in the creation of the value chain.
At the audience with Reta Jo Lewis, the minister, through the Exim Bank, "invited American businessmen to invest in production in Angola and to export to SADC or other regions of the continent", says a statement from the Ministry of Economy and Planning to which VerAngola was lit.
The minister appealed to the bank - which is already "committing to renewable energy projects in Malanje and Luanda, as well as building at least 40 grain silos" - "to invest in projects in the Lobito corridor, where there are already operating the management and maintenance consortium, Lobito Atlantic Railway, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, MIGA, the World Bank and the African Development Bank", considering that "the idea is to promote the value chains of the productive chains defined as priority".
The meeting also served for the two entities to address "the possibilities of co-financing startup incubators to take advantage of and monetize the energy of Angolan youth, in terms of technological innovation", adds the note.
This Wednesday, the minister also had another meeting with the Chinese ambassador to Angola, Gong Tao.
"With the ambassador, the minister addressed the process of strengthening economic and business relations between the two countries", says the statement.
"The two entities agreed to continue working together to accelerate the process of diversification of the national economy with the local production of goods and services by Chinese companies, whether in terms of agriculture or in terms of the manufacturing industry", reads still in the note.
