Maria do Rosário Bragança – who participated this Tuesday in a hearing between members of SASSCAL and the Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa – said they were "preparing the conditions" for the second center of excellence.
"Angola has had a remarkable participation. At the moment, it has all financial contributions up to date, until 2024. And we are preparing the conditions for the second SASSCAL Center of Excellence to be effectively built and properly equipped, in the province of Huambo, to that our Government demonstrates its commitment to climate action", said the minister, as outgoing president of the SASSCAL council of ministers, whose two-year rotating mandate ends this month, cited by Jornal de Angola.
According to Angop, it will be a center focused on scientific research and food safety.
"The positive aspects are closely linked to the development of scientific research projects that are being carried out in the second call for SASSCAL projects, called SASSCAL two, where we have Angola participating in a project as a country with an institution that is the coordinator of the project and participating in others with researchers from other countries. All the work that has been done to create the SASSCAL center of excellence, we hope by 2024 to bring us more tangible results and also the even greater engagement of our scientific researchers in all activities of SASSCAL", said the minister.
The minister also mentioned that the country has "benefited from the SASSCAL program with bachelor's, master's and doctorate scholarships to improve the implementation of meteorological stations in various parts of the country".
On the occasion, Maria do Rosário Bragança also made it known that one million euros (around one million dollars) is the amount made available by the Angolan State to the SASSCAL fund for the construction of infrastructure linked to the scientific domain in the country, writes Angop.
In turn, the deputy minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform of Namibia, Anna Shiweda, considered that of all the countries that are part of SASSCAL, her country is the one that most faces the problem of drought and floods, recalling that Namibia was one of the first to join the organization.
"We achieved many gains within the scope of this initiative, especially with Angola, with regard to water supply and integrated management of water resources", she said, quoted by Jornal de Angola.
She also left the guarantee that Namibia will continue to encourage other States to join the initiative, since, in her view, together they can combat climate change more effectively.
Regarding the meeting with Esperança da Costa, the person in charge emphasized the support: "We are grateful for the availability expressed by the Vice-President of the Republic, in order to be able to advocate for the other member countries to join the initiative. This is the greatest support that we can have from a political point of view and at the highest level", he indicated, quoted by Jornal de Angola.
Regarding the audience, Maria do Rosário Bragança made it known that the Vice-President of the Republic "made a point of receiving the delegation, above all, to emphasize the commitment of the Angolan Government and the President of the Republic with full engagement in the fight against climate change" .
On the occasion, in addition to the future center, those responsible discussed the country's participation in the African Summit, which took place this month in Kenya, among other aspects related to the organization.
In addition to Maria do Rosário Bragança and Anna Shiweda, Mali's Minister of Higher Education and Research, Bourema Kansaye, was also present at the meeting.
