Speaking last Saturday, in the province of Benguela, on the sidelines of a celebration dinner celebrating the 49th anniversary of Cape Verde's independence, which took place on July 5th, the Cape Verdean diplomat said that there were already "direct conversations between the two ministries" and the two airlines.
"There are already direct conversations between the two ministries, between the two airline operators, there is even a TAAG plane rented and our intention is, eventually, to be able to acquire this plane," he said, quoted by Jornal de Angola.
"Our idea is to extend, because we want to be a platform for TAAG in West Africa," he added.
Cape Verde's priority is the resumption of this air connection, the ambassador pointed out, adding that since arriving in the country a year ago he began contacting the government, through the Ministry of Transport, and the national airline TAAG, having shown satisfaction with the advances achieved.
"We are satisfied with the progress made," he said.
Regarding the schedule, Júlio Morais did not give details, indicating that negotiations are ongoing.
"I can't tell you about details, as I am certain that there is a very strong political pressure to move forward. The technical parties are already in direct contact. A feasibility study is being carried out with the ECOWAS market. I am sure that no longer there are political flights, these flights have to be profitable and, therefore, we are 'breaking stones' at the moment, but we are confident that, by the end of the year, there will be good news, in this sense", said the Cape Verdean diplomat, quoted by Jornal de Angola.
After the air connection, second in Cape Verde's priorities in Angola is the development of a large-scale agricultural and livestock project that is capable of not only guaranteeing food security in that Portuguese-speaking country, but also boosting Angolan exports to Cape Verde, for through direct air and sea connections, he indicated.
According to the ambassador they are currently "attacking these two issues": "We are attacking these two issues currently. As you can see, it is an interconnected complex of issues that we are addressing, sometimes it may take time, but we are on the right path", he said, quoted by Jornal de Angola.
It is worth remembering that in April this year, the president of TAAG, António dos Santos Domingos said that the flag airline should resume flights between Luanda and Praia, with a stopover in São Tomé and Príncipe this year.
