The Agreement on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (APPRI) was signed this Tuesday in Beijing, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, and the Minister of Commerce of the Republic of China, Wang Wentao.
According to a note from the Angolan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this legal instrument, signed within the scope of strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two States, also aims to "guarantee a stable, transparent and non-discriminatory framework for investment between Angola and China ".
In his intervention, Téte António considered this agreement a very important political, economic and commercial gain not only for Angola, but also for the Asian nation, stressing that the signing of APPRI "represents the end of 12 years of long negotiations between the parties, due to several constraints now overcome".
"Today, with all the conditions met, the agreement, now signed, provides greater guarantees to the investor and stability to the investment, providing unequivocal legal support so that the two partners can always ensure the development of reciprocal businesses", highlights the note from the Mirex.
The note highlights that the agreement recognizes the importance of providing effective means and procedures to protect investment rights and interests under national legislation, as well as through international arbitration, to ensure stability and confidence between investors in both countries. .
"APPRIs are bilateral agreements that aim to demonstrate to international investors the existence of a legal and security mechanism for carrying out their investments", adds the note.
According to the note, the architecture of the latest generation APPRI must include the limited definition of investment, clearly defining the assets that must be protected, with the clarification of provisions such as indirect expropriation, fair treatment and the most favored nation also being part of this legal instrument, as well as the resolution of investor versus State disputes, with regard to transparency in arbitration procedures, open sessions, publication of documents and public participation by civil society.
Angola has agreements in this area with South Africa, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, in Africa, with Qatar, in Asia, and with Portugal, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia and France, in Europe.
Data released at the 1st edition of the Angola-China Business Forum held in July this year in Luanda, indicated that the balance of trade between Angola and China, in 2022, grew 23.3 percent to 27.3 billion of dollars.
These numbers, highlights the Mirex note, "mirror the solidification of consecutive and long-term cooperation with China, which makes Angola the second largest trading partner of the Asian giant and the largest supplier of crude oil in Africa", already, in recent years , coffee, beer, granite and other specialties from Angola, products that successively appear on the Chinese market.
Today, cooperation between Angola and China "shows significant results", highlights Mirex, with the construction of infrastructures, such as the Caculo Cabaça Hydroelectric Plant, the New "António Agostinho Neto" International Airport, Porto Caio, in the province of Cabinda, and other works.
