Angola and Portugal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding including 13 different agreements that cut across financial, legal and other critical areas.
The Angolan President, João Lourenço, who received his Portuguese counterpart, António Costa on Monday, revealed that the country was enthusiastic about partnering with its erstwhile colonialist.
“I have to say that we sensed a great willingness to collaborate on the part of the Portuguese justice system, with whom we were able to exchange not only information but also the alignment of Angola’s anti-corruption strategy and to say that in principle everything that was asked of the Portuguese authorities so that we could find the right correspondent”, president Lourenço said.
The Portuguese president announced a rise in its financial commitment to Angola which is a top oil producer in Africa.
“To support the Angolan government’s ambition and strategic approach to diversifying the country’s economy, we have significantly increased the credit line from one thousand five hundred to two billion euros”, announced Costa.
The new agreement will run till 2027. The economies of Angola and Portugal are deeply intertwined, and the two countries share a language and cultural heritage.
According to consular statistics, approximately 100,000 Portuguese nationals work in Angola, with approximately 10,000 Portuguese firms operating in a variety of sectors such as construction, engineering, hospitality, law, and financial services.