Portugal opens Europe’s doors to Angolan companies

"Angola opens to the Portuguese companies the doors to this region, this continent; and Portugal opens to Angolan companies the doors to Europe, the doors to another major market", stated Prime Minister Luís Montenegro in his speech at the Portugal-Angola Economic Forum in Luanda during the second day of his visit to Angola.

Luís Montenegro said that "we are interested in attracting your investment", especially because Portugal has "top quality" human resources, "excellent" higher education schools, and the potential of knowledge acquired in several areas of the economy to be able to accommodate those investments.

"My presence here is also to tell you (…) that we greatly trust what the Portuguese companies can do in Angola, but I want you to know that we greatly trust what the Angolans can do in Portugal", he added, indicating the Government’s main economic and fiscal measures.

We are in it together

Although the investment decisions fall on companies, the Government’s aim is to facilitate investments through public policy, he said, using the traditional Angolan expression "we are in it together" to define the relations between the two sibling countries.

The Angolan Minister of Trade and Industry Rui Miguéns de Oliveira indicated food security as a national goal for the upcoming years, adding that Angola wants partnerships with "all those who want to work towards this". 

Miguéns de Oliveira noted as an example the wine sector, where the experience of the Portuguese entrepreneurs can help Angola with production, setting up a "space of complementarity for the Portuguese producers to grow with Angolan entrepreneurs."

The speech at the economic forum, which also featured a speech by the Portuguese Minister of Economy Pedro Reis, was the last initiative of the Prime Minister’s visit to Angola. Prior to that, he had attended the Luanda International Trade Fair and spoke to Portuguese and Angolan entrepreneurs.

Be confident

During the morning, the Prime Minister and the remaining members of Government visited the companies Powergol, which specialises in the field of energy, and Refriango, market leader in the beverage sector in Angola.

At the end of his visits, Luís Montenegro claimed, in a statement to the press, that the visits were meant to "understand how Portuguese companies are imposing and implementing themselves in Angola and how far the public powers (…) can help to cooperate with their activity and through that cooperation help the country in questions, which is Angola".

The two companies he visited conduct a "dual public service": "On the one hand, boost Angola’s economy, offer job opportunities, contribute to the country’s social and economic development, of our sibling country. At the same time, boost our capacity to conquer the market, make our economy more international".

Claiming that in Portugal the companies "have the technological capabilities, good human resources, good entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial capabilities", he added that "we need to be confident in what we are able to do inside and outsider, for the sake of our country, the Portuguese people’s well-being, but also for the sake of the spaces where we settle, which is the case of Angola".

Perpetuate the language

On the first day of his visit, following the meetings with President João Lourenço and between the two Government’s delegations, the Prime Minister visited the Portuguese School in Luanda – attended by more than two thousand children and youths from pre-school to 12th grade –, "a powerful instrument" of cooperation and perpetuating the common language.

"This Portuguese school is obviously a source of foreign cooperation between Portugal and Angola and is also a way for us, through our education system, to be closer to our community while at the same time attracting children and youths to Portuguese teaching that are not Portuguese descendants", he said.

Luís Montenegro said the Government is solving the situation of precariousness of 70 teachers, for more than two years, and approved a bill in the Council of Ministers of 20 June for this. "The situation isn’t yet fully overcome, but we are making a huge effort" to solve it fully, he said.

Pride in the Portuguese people’s action

At the end of the first day, the Prime Minister hosted the Portuguese community in Luanda (112 thousand Portuguese people live in Angola), claiming that "it is a great pride to head the Government of a country like ours and arriving here and listening to the President of this country, the Ministers of this country, the institutions of this country speaking about what the Portuguese people do here today".

"It is very important for them to continue a driver of [Angolan] growth and development", he said, adding that "there is a huge amount of people, not just the entrepreneurs, but also the workers, the employees they bring over to this country, to which we have ties of profound friendship, a lot of what it means to be Portuguese foremost, and a good Portuguese, secondly".

Stating "deep respect for those who found abroad an opportunity to share some of their knowledge, know-how, production capacity", he added that "the more successful Portuguese workers and companies are abroad, the more we are showing everyone our capacity to do things and do them well".