ANGOLA AND EGYPT SIGNED INFRASTRUCTURAL DEAL

Egypt aims to increase the number of companies operating in Angola in the infrastructure sector, the country’s ambassador to Angola, Mohamed Safwat said Wednesday in Luanda.

The diplomat, who was speaking to the press following a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Carolina Cerqueira, said his country is working closely with the Angolan government to increase the number of Egyptian companies in the Angola infrastructure sector.

The Egyptian ambassador expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between the two countries, which since 2016 has seen an increase in the volume of business from Egypt to Angola, especially from Egyptian companies represented in the country in the infrastructure sector.

The diplomat highlighted the presence of Egyptian business people that live in Angola for decades and “who have been effectively contributing to the development of the two countries in areas such as the metallurgical and petrochemical industries’ ‘.

The diplomat called for relations between African countries to be strengthened, since the continent has the resources to cooperate with each other, within the framework of the bases created by the African Union (AU) through regional and bilateral agreements.

In June, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi paid a state visit to Angola, with the aim to strengthen bilateral relations. On that occasion, he invited his Angolan counterpart, João Lourenço, to visit Egypt, on a date to be agreed through diplomatic channels.

The Egyptian ambassador said he hopes that the Angolan president’s visit to his country would take place as soon as possible to take bilateral relations even further.

In the meeting with the National Assembly Speaker, issues related to parliamentary diplomacy were discussed, as well as an invitation made to representatives of the Egyptian parliament to take part in the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to be held in the Angolan capital, Luanda, in October.

The ambassador assured that Egypt will be strongly represented in this activity, having wished Angola’s success in organizing the major event.

Angola has created technical, material and human conditions to host the 147th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union from October 23-27,a source in the organizing committee has said.

Mohamed Safwat, who is at the end of his mission after four years as a diplomat in Angola, said he is satisfied with the work he has done during these years in the country.

Angola-Egypt cooperation

Political and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries was formalized on March 26, 1987, when a General Agreement on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was signed in Luanda.

Angola and Egypt are keen to increase cooperation in several sectors such as economy, trade and industry, education, higher education and technical-vocational training, energy and water, banking and finance, agriculture and fisheries.

The two countries are engaged in the preparation of the first session of the Bilateral Commission, which will evaluate cooperation and establish the process for legal instruments to be in force.

Egyptian companies were among the first ones to provide “important support” to the Angolan government’s programme to combat Covid-19, having supplied various biosafety equipment, hospital consumables and a sum of (200) million kwanzas.

Egypt is located in the northern part of the African continent, bordered by Sudan to the south, Libya to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the east.

Angola and the Netherlands strengthen relations

The National Assembly Speaker also received the ambassador of the Netherlands to Angola, Tsjeard Roelf Hoekstra, with whom inter-parliamentary and economic relations between the two states were reviewed.

The diplomat emphasized that Angola and the Netherlands “are ideal partners in the fields of agriculture, logistics and renewable energies, having highlighted the business mission organized by his embassy, in which Angolan businesspeople from several provinces had the opportunity to visit this European country for business.DC/VIC/AMP