According to Francisco Duarte, visa applications at the Portuguese consulate general in Luanda are many thousands and has been breaking monthly records for requests from Angolans who want to travel to Portugal.
"Because, there is an aspect that has to do with the recovery of the delay that existed at the time of the pandemic and it is also true that there is a greater pressure from more Angolans who want to travel to Portugal, compared to the past, that is, we noticed a greater order flow", said the ambassador.
Speaking at the end of the audience granted to him by the President of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, the Portuguese diplomat said that the consulate general in Luanda is currently the largest visa issuing center in the entire Portuguese diplomatic network.
"And an almost superhuman effort has been made on the part of its employees to respond to the many requests for visas to Portugal, as I said many thousands, there are aspects that need to be improved, yes, without a doubt, we are doing it", he stressed.
"The Minister of Foreign Affairs has already addressed this issue, our Secretary of State for Communities came here, several members of the government came here, measures were taken in terms of strengthening human resources", he recalled.
For Francisco Duarte, who was responding to Lusa about the delay in issuing visas to Portugal, it will also be necessary to strengthen technological resources to respond to requests.
"And now, within the scope of the visa facilitation protocol, we are also working towards making it even more agile, but this is a bilateral, reciprocal flow", he stressed.
The visa facilitation mechanism must be reciprocal, he argued, because Portuguese companies in need of "workers for specific functions" in Angola, he added: "Sometimes I also hear complaints."
"But we will make a mutual effort to improve this issue, I am confident that this will happen, we are working towards it", he assured.
About alleged schemes to obtain a visa at the Portuguese consulate in Luanda, Francisco Duarte said that he also hears about it, but they are nothing more than insinuations because there is no evidence.
"So it's true that I sometimes hear about it, but do you have concrete evidence? Do you know it? If you know someone who has concrete evidence, I'd appreciate it", he replied to journalists.
With Carolina Cerqueira, the Portuguese ambassador addressed the bilateral issue around three axes, with the mobility of people being the first topic of the audience, at the parliament's headquarters, in Luanda.
For Francisco Duarte, the issue of mobility "is an absolutely central aspect" of the relationship between the two countries: "We are moving towards a new paradigm resulting from the CPLP Mobility Agreement and all the measures we are going to take to facilitate the flow of people both ways".
Regarding the implementation of the Mobility Agreement of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), already ratified by the Member States, the diplomat said that "there are still aspects to be finalized" for its effective functionality.
"[There are] several things that have to happen, each country has to adopt the legislation to implement this agreement and then there are also cases of, perhaps, the need to make bilateral agreements because of the categories that are established under the mobility agreement", he explained.
"This is being worked on and there will be news soon, but it's not the time for me to announce them yet", he said.
Asked if Brussels has been an obstacle to the mobility of the CPLP, the diplomat replied: "I wouldn't say an obstacle, we are limited in terms of short-stay visas because we are part of the Schengen Agreement."
"Therefore, there is a question of shared sovereignty here, we are going to work on what can be done, namely with regard to long-term visas and facilitate as much as possible what we can", he pointed out.
Francisco Duarte also said that he believed that the regulation of the CPLP Mobility Agreement, already signed by Portugal, would provide an answer to the issue of visa applications.
"It will give [answer]. There was an important meeting this week, in Lisbon, on the 19th, on the implementation of the visa facilitation protocol and now new steps will be taken in terms of legislation and the implementation of all these steps", replied to Lusa.
He also admitted that the implementation of the mobility agreement will be a great challenge for Portugal, because its consular services will be pressured with a "brutal increase" in visa applications, guaranteeing, however, work.
"This is a big challenge, I don't hide from you that it's difficult, but it's our obligation to do it and we're going to work for it, I'm not going to tell you it's easy, it's not easy because there's really a lot of pressure here," he said.
But, "our will is to respond and the simple fact that there is this brutal increase in the order of a very high percentage is a sign that the will is there, there is no doubt about that", he noted.
Parliamentary cooperation, the diversification of the economy and the vast program of strategic cooperation between Angola and Portugal were also topics discussed at the meeting between Carolina Cerqueira and Francisco Duarte.
Carolina Cerqueira is the new president of the National Assembly for the 2022-2027 legislature, which emerges from the August 24 general elections, which elected 220 deputies.
Francisco Duarte also said that he congratulated the president of the Angolan legislative body, who is traveling to Lisbon next week, where he will participate in the CPLP parliamentary assembly.
"I had the opportunity to tell him that we count on all his experience and political weight to, within the framework of this new legislature, carry out a work that we Portugal have as a friendly country that we consider very important", concluded the Portuguese ambassador.
