Angola wants to strengthen cooperation with Portugal in fisheries, with emphasis on aquaculture

In a joint press conference with her Portuguese counterpart, Teresa Coelho, the Angolan government official, Esperança da Costa, considered that cooperation between Portugal and Angola in the fisheries sector "has historic ties and is quite strong in various fields, but especially in the field of scientific research and the training of specialized staff".

According to the Secretary of State, under the protocol signed in 2019 between the two countries, there should now be "a strengthening of [cooperation] in some areas, taking into account the sustainable development strategy, which are the national priorities in terms of diversification of the economy and what are also the needs for greater development, in Angola, of aquaculture, on the mainland, but also of marine aquaculture."

"Portugal has good experience in this domain, Angola has a marine ecosystem that offers good opportunities for the development of aquaculture. So it is here to concentrate synergies to identify projects with reciprocal advantages," he said, after a two-day meeting, in Lisbon, with Teresa Coelho.

The Portuguese Secretary of State for Fisheries was keen to underline, for her part, that these two days of work were "a very productive session", whose main themes were the issues of the sea, the national strategy for the sea, the conference of Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) on the oceans and scientific research in the sector.

About scientific investigation she said: "It is an area that was already in a much more mature phase of cooperation".

Teresa Coelho also made a point of recalling that her counterpart had already been in Lisbon in August of this year and that the meetings now held between both government officials were the continuation of a work that has been developed in person or virtually, based on a memorandum of understanding signed between the two governments in 2019.

In this context, he stressed: "In Portugal, we are focused, on fisheries, on improving fishermen's income, on valuing the fishery product, on improving professional training and on valuing the profession. Therefore, we want to be a more modern, more competitive, more profitable".

"Angola accompanies us and what we are establishing here is to continue the foundations of a cooperation that has already started a long time ago, but whose objective is the same, it is to have a fisheries sector and a line of fish with good results for our fishermen, developing sustainable fishing and knowing that our fishermen have a valued product," he added.

For this, she underlined: "We need to have an industry with good foundations, to have better conditions from the point of view of hygiene and food safety and the safety of people and goods (...). And these are objectives for Portugal and Angola" .

As for aquaculture, "it is also a very important matter", admitted the Secretary of State of Portugal. "Portugal is on the path of improving aquaculture establishments and production. Angola is also. And this year we approved the National Strategy for the Sea 2021-2030 and the action plan", she underlined.

In addition, there is "an excellent understanding between the two countries", she stressed.

The Secretary of State for Fisheries, Teresa Coelho, received her Angolan counterpart, Esperança da Costa, on the 2nd and 3rd of November, to review the situation of bilateral cooperation and identify new areas for joint work.

The two officials met with the ministry's bodies and analyzed the different areas of the fisheries and aquaculture sector.

The director of the Angola Marine Research Institute, Filomena Vaz Velho, was also present at these meetings.