Luanda – Angolan Executive Initiative allowed to attract US$11.2 billion in the last five years, as part of economic diplomacy.
The tasks defined within the framework of the Executive’s foreign policy, under the leadership of President João, also allowed to raise €579 million.
Despite these figures, there is still a whole package of intentions of investments or processes initiated, taking place at the level of the Private Investment and Export Agency-AIPEX.
Based on these results, the head of AIPEX, António Henriques, considered positive the Executive’s tasks, as part of the strategy adopted by President João Lourenço.
The strategy of economic diplomacy started being implemented by the Statesman as soon as he began his term, in 2017.
President João Lourenço, as head of the country’s foreign policy, set in motion an intense programme of contacts amid the global economic and financial crisis.
During this period, the country was also affected by internal management distortions and corruption, which forced the Head of State to personally lead the mission.
Three axes guided the developments, which forced the President to make long and successive trips to countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, where new destinations were explored, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Africa.
In most cases, the trips were part of the economic diplomacy, but in others, they guided the President’s trips to politics, as is the case of state visits to Cuba, Guinea, Ghana, Tanzania and Congo Brazzaville.
The State visits of President João Lourenço to these countries were a clear demonstration of gratitude.
In his visits, the Angolan statesman thanked the support that Angola received. This was the case in Ghana, Guinea and other countries.
As for the economic diplomacy, the President’s intense activity represented the financing of US$500 million from a UK credit institution, as well as the issuance of over 3 billion Eurobonds.
This allowed debt management and the launch of new infrastructure projects and social investments in different provinces, such as Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Moxico and Cuando Cubango.
The visit of the Angolan Head of State to France resulted in the obtaining of two credits: US$500 million from Agricultural Credit and another €79 million from the French Development Agency.
In Germany, through Deutsch Bank, the enlargement of the COSEC credit line in Portugal was also obtained, after the visit of the prime minister of Portugal to the country, with an European credit of €500 million.
In Asia, João Lourenço went to China, where he managed to obtained a US$ 3.5 billion loan from the commercial and industrial bank ICBC.
China’s EXIMBANK disbursed another US$ 620 million, as well as the offer of 500 scholarships for higher education, announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping himself.
In Africa, diplomacy also resulted in convincing the African Investment Bank (AIB) to grant a US$110 million loan to promote agriculture, currently used in Cabinda province.
Hence, economic diplomacy was one of the most important hallmarks of President João Lourenço’s mandate.
However, the Angolan statesman also received dignitaries from different nations in the country.
They include the visit of the President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prince Herry of England, and the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Angola’s foreign policy took positions in tribunes such as the United Nations, where the voice of President João Lourenço was heard in world forums on issues such as global warming and climate change.
In Africa, Angola’s role, under the president João Lourenço, has always been relevant in some crucial moment.
The African Union (AU) in May this year in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, named the Angolan statesman champion due to his commitment to peace and reconciliation in Africa.
Source: Angola Press News Agency
