According MacauBusiness, Portugal’s Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade, AICEP and AIPEX, its Angolan counterpart, formalised a partnership on Monday in Lisbon, which aims to develop cooperation in the areas of training, good practices in business missions and information to support the internationalisation of companies.
The new president of AIPEX, Angola’s Private Investment and Export Promotion Agency, Arlindo das Chagas Rangel, emphasised in statements to Lusa the importance of the “partnership declaration” signed today, particularly in terms of helping to respond to Angolan needs “in terms of training and identifying markets and opportunities”.
Rangel brought to Portugal the Angolan government’s concerns about two fundamental sectors, energy – this Tuesday the AIPEX team will visit the Sines industrial logistics port complex – and food safety.
“Food safety is a vast sector, it requires infrastructure, logistics and [above all] production, and we’re going to focus on this sector,” he told Lusa.
“We’re in the process of opening up, making ourselves known and, with the support and help of AICEP, trying to use [the Portuguese agency’s] channels to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in Angola,” he added.
Filipe Santos Costa, president of AICEP, Portugal’s Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade, stressed the importance of the partnership in “three main areas of cooperation” – general training for the Angolan counterpart as an agency for investment and foreign trade focused on attracting investment; organising business missions to attract this investment; and finally information to support the internationalisation of companies.
“The agreement reflects the interconnection between the two economies, because Angola is a very important non-European market for Portugal (…) due to the huge number of Portuguese companies that are committed to the Angolan market,” emphasised Santos Costa.
The head of AICEP highlighted the importance of Angola’s “opening up of its territory”, materialised in the Angolan government’s commitment to developing infrastructures, namely the water and electricity networks.
“Taking advantage of opportunities and developing public or private investment in transport infrastructure, in utility networks, are certainly investments with a return,” said Santos Costa.
The Portuguese manager also highlighted the Angolan agri-food sector as a “focus” of attention, not only because of the opportunities for investment in agriculture itself, but also “in logistics and supply networks, in agri-industry, and in the true development of the entire agri-food sector” – which is also one of our Portuguese priorities.
Angola, for its part, and in the words of Arlindo Rangel, expressed in Lisbon “its total willingness” for the partnership signed today “to form a solid basis for a new and exemplary model of cooperation, innovation and success between both parties”.
“Together, we can meet the challenges ahead and turn opportunities into tangible achievements that will benefit our business communities and our countries,” said the president of AIPEX.
The signing of the partnership, included in a series of actions taking place today and Tuesday, culminates an “action of dialogue” between the two similar institutions, which included a workshop in Luanda in mid-April, the online training of 20 AIPEX technicians and managers by the AICEP Academy, the preparation of a study on the Portuguese and Angolan experiences in promoting exports and attracting investment and the creation of a good practice guide for business missions.
The action was supported by the European Union, with funding from the European Development Fund, as part of the strengthening of public policy dialogue between the EU-27 and Angola in the area of economic growth, sustainable development and support for the African country’s economic diversification efforts.
The new president of AIPEX, Angola’s Private Investment and Export Promotion Agency, Arlindo das Chagas Rangel, emphasised in statements to Lusa the importance of the “partnership declaration” signed today, particularly in terms of helping to respond to Angolan needs “in terms of training and identifying markets and opportunities”.
Rangel brought to Portugal the Angolan government’s concerns about two fundamental sectors, energy – this Tuesday the AIPEX team will visit the Sines industrial logistics port complex – and food safety.
“Food safety is a vast sector, it requires infrastructure, logistics and [above all] production, and we’re going to focus on this sector,” he told Lusa.
“We’re in the process of opening up, making ourselves known and, with the support and help of AICEP, trying to use [the Portuguese agency’s] channels to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in Angola,” he added.
Filipe Santos Costa, president of AICEP, Portugal’s Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade, stressed the importance of the partnership in “three main areas of cooperation” – general training for the Angolan counterpart as an agency for investment and foreign trade focused on attracting investment; organising business missions to attract this investment; and finally information to support the internationalisation of companies.
“The agreement reflects the interconnection between the two economies, because Angola is a very important non-European market for Portugal (…) due to the huge number of Portuguese companies that are committed to the Angolan market,” emphasised Santos Costa.
The head of AICEP highlighted the importance of Angola’s “opening up of its territory”, materialised in the Angolan government’s commitment to developing infrastructures, namely the water and electricity networks.
“Taking advantage of opportunities and developing public or private investment in transport infrastructure, in utility networks, are certainly investments with a return,” said Santos Costa.
The Portuguese manager also highlighted the Angolan agri-food sector as a “focus” of attention, not only because of the opportunities for investment in agriculture itself, but also “in logistics and supply networks, in agri-industry, and in the true development of the entire agri-food sector” – which is also one of our Portuguese priorities.
Angola, for its part, and in the words of Arlindo Rangel, expressed in Lisbon “its total willingness” for the partnership signed today “to form a solid basis for a new and exemplary model of cooperation, innovation and success between both parties”.
“Together, we can meet the challenges ahead and turn opportunities into tangible achievements that will benefit our business communities and our countries,” said the president of AIPEX.
The signing of the partnership, included in a series of actions taking place today and Tuesday, culminates an “action of dialogue” between the two similar institutions, which included a workshop in Luanda in mid-April, the online training of 20 AIPEX technicians and managers by the AICEP Academy, the preparation of a study on the Portuguese and Angolan experiences in promoting exports and attracting investment and the creation of a good practice guide for business missions.
The action was supported by the European Union, with funding from the European Development Fund, as part of the strengthening of public policy dialogue between the EU-27 and Angola in the area of economic growth, sustainable development and support for the African country’s economic diversification efforts.
