Mário Caetano João received on Friday the regional director of the World Bank for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions, Hassan Zaman, who wanted to know more about the Angolan Government's perspective for accelerating national production and training its staff.
Speaking to the press, Hassan Zaman, accompanied at the meeting by the World Bank representative in Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, Juan Alvarez, said that the global banking institution has been committed to supporting Angola's efforts, essentially in strengthening the country's economy.
Hassan Zaman said that the financing to support infrastructure development work in the Lobito Corridor will be disbursed over a period of five years, highlighting that the project has just been approved and will begin within a few months.
In turn, Mário Caetano João said that, in addition to the "Diversifica Mais" project, this World Bank team also supports the statistics project, with Friday's meeting serving to analyze the possibility of extending cooperation to "more linked to institutional training".
"We noted that we need to continue training our staff. We have a national directorate of socio-economic studies and we ask that there be the opportunity for these employees to be able to intern at the World Bank, in this directorate of trade and investment, the directorate that came here", he highlighted.
Mário Caetano João highlighted that support was also requested for Angola to develop "a series of activities that mature the 'start-up' ecosystem in the country".
"With this 'Diversifica Mais' we will be promoting and creating jobs in rural areas, but we cannot leave urban areas aside. In urban areas, entrepreneurship and especially 'start-ups' are in fact a topic that are on the agenda of the Ministry of Economy and Planning, with the highest possible priority", he highlighted.
Angola intends to hold the third 'start-ups summit' in April next year, said the official, highlighting that they are raising awareness among several partners and now the World Bank, with the possible support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private arm of this banking institution, to also join this action.
Regarding the financing of 300 million dollars for the Lobito Corridor, the holder of the Economy and Planning portfolio said that several infrastructures will emerge, the most important of which are some logistics centers.
"Projects will emerge here to increase national production, we are talking about some aggregation centers, we are also foreseeing the involvement of the private sector through the guarantees that this project also brings, there are activities that the project will finance and there are activities that the project will promote financing, through guarantees", he stressed.
According to the minister, the private sector is encouraged to bring other assets to accelerate the process of boosting economic activity along the Lobito Corridor, such as the construction of silos and other transformation stations for some production.
The minister also mentioned the intentions of the African Development Bank to finance activities along the Lobito Corridor with around 150 million dollars, also by the American Eximbank, to finance logistics centers in that area, as well as by MIGA, a World Bank institution linked guarantees against non-commercial risks.
