The request was made this Monday, in Luanda, by Faustina Alves de Sousa, in a meeting with the former senator of Japan and president of the Association of Economy and Development, Yano Tetsuro, who traveled to Luanda to address the Angolan authorities Japanese government support to Angola for demining issues.
"I would like to emphasize here that we continue to await the completion of funding with Japan, to support demining, which was practically proposed in 2018, of 25 million dollars, which has to do with the funding for the modernization of large equipment in the Itachi machines, which we know are very powerful machines and which, even due to the time of use, need to be updated, replaced," said the minister.
Faustina Alves de Sousa, who is also the coordinator of the Demining Executive Committee, made the donation from the Government of Japan of 2,000,000 dollars, made available in January this year, for the purchase of replacement equipment for demining machine parts.
According to the minister, a list of necessary materials was drawn up, which has already been sent to Japan, and the Angolan authorities are awaiting a response.
"Here I would like to reinforce the importance of the speed of us concluding, reaching the execution, since time has already been a little scarce and the replacement of these parts will be very important for us to continue with the demining issues", he stressed the minister.
The government official highlighted Angola's commitment to meet the goals assumed internationally, before the Ottawa Convention, to make the country free of mines by 2025.
"The reinforcement of the technical capacity, equipment of our teams, brigades, is very important, only in this way will we be able to have positive results in the period in which it was proposed to do away with the mines in Angola," said the minister.
The former Japanese senator, on the other hand, expressed his country's willingness to support Angola within the scope of the bilateral relationship between the two countries, so that the goal of reaching a land-mine-free country by 2025 is achieved, in accordance with the commitment made by the Angolan Government .
"Japan would like to see in which we could cooperate with Angola in order to advance towards achieving this goal, including support for the donation of accessories, which the minister referred to," he stressed.
In turn, the Japanese ambassador to Angola, Jiro Maruhashi, said, in statements to the press, that the financial contribution of 2,000,000 dollars is aimed at acquiring parts of demining machinery.
According to the Japanese diplomat, it is also the desire of his government to see, soon, this entire process, in order to streamline the demining service, "for which Angola is working with all its strength to reach a country by 2025 free of mines".
"Japan has been supplying several Japanese brand demining machines, as time passes we need to exchange spare parts," he stressed.
At the meeting, the parties discussed the status of the grant of 2,000,000 dollars from Japan to support demining and the status of the financing of the Asian country to the Angolan government's demining program, as well as the next steps to be taken.
Japan is still one of the few countries that has supported Angola in its demining program, after a few years ago the Portuguese-speaking country had lost international aid for this purpose.
Angola recorded 22 deaths and 41 injuries, in 2020, out of a total of 30 accidents with unexploded ordnance, as disclosed in March of this year by the Executive Commission for Demining. injured, especially children.
Angola's demining process, after nearly 30 years of civil war, which ended in 2002, was significantly affected by the economic and financial crisis that the country has been experiencing since the end of 2014, as well as by the reduction in the financial contribution of international donors.
