Angola's diamond exchange project could be supported by the United Arab Emirates

Angola is present at the world exhibition in Dubai, combining tradition with innovation and with a view to attracting investment to the country.

The United Arab Emirates implemented in Angola "a tractor factory to support agriculture, on the basis that agriculture is not about selling products, but about cultivating products 'in situ', that is done", stated Albina Assis Africano, in an interview to Lusa during the visit to the Angola Pavilion, in Dubai.

"They also supported us in the creation of a mobile phone factory, because today communication is life", she stressed, adding that "those who don't have the means of communication can say that it almost doesn't exist". "Without the means of communication, we are not going anywhere", concluded the commissioner-general of Angola for Expo 2020 Dubai.

"These are two projects that were extremely important for our country", she underlined.

The official highlighted the future project of the diamond exchange, which she described as "much more important in terms of profitability and in terms of autonomy". "It will probably also be a next project supported here with the Emirates", said Albina Assis.

Albina Africano stressed that the Emirates is "a big buyer" of diamonds.

In May this year, the minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, had said he hoped to launch the Angola diamond exchange, on an experimental basis, next year.

Expo 2020 Dubai organizers called the first month of the event a "great success", announcing 2,350,868 visits from 1st to 31st October.

According to the organization, 17 percent of the total visits came from outside the country, which it considers "remarkable" considering that the worldwide exhibition is taking place while many countries still have travel restrictions due to the pandemic.

According to data, the Expo had 185 nationalities at its gates, with India, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom in the 'top 5' of international visitors.

This is the first time in the history of the World Expo that each country has its own pavilion - 192 in total. For example, the Saudi Arabia Pavilion, one of the largest at Expo 2020 Dubai, has already attracted half a million visitors.

Expo 2020 Dubai ends at the end of March next year.