Spain: Angolan president and Pedro Sánchez discuss cooperation

Angolan head of State João Lourenço Thursday in Madrid, Spain, assessed with the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, the level of cooperation and friendship between the two countries.

The two Statesmen reviewed the current state of bilateral relations in several areas.

Angola and Spain strengthened their cooperation in February this year after both countries signed three new memorandum of understanding.

The legal instruments signed in the framework of the visit of King Philip VI to Angola include the areas of sports, cooperation between the Venâncio de Moura Diplomatic Academy and the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain, and between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Angola and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Kingdom of Spain, in the area of Industry.

Angolan President has been in Spain at the invitation by Gavi to participate in the Global Conference on Vaccines.

Strengthening cooperation

During the official visit of the President of the Government of Spain Pedro Sánchez to Luanda in April 2021, the two countries also signed several legal instruments in the fields of air transport, agriculture, fisheries and industrial policy.

Cooperation between the two countries has gained momentum in the business sector, with the presence of Spanish companies in Angola.

The move led the two countries to draw up a new framework of strategic priorities and boost the bilateral cooperation relationship to reach increasingly advantageous levels.

Trade Balance

Angola’s imports from Spain totaled US$127.6 million in 2020. In 2021 the country imported US$120.7 million and US$211.2 million in 2022.

As for the exports, in 2020 the figure was US$417.1 million, in 2021 US$444.4 million and US$2.3 billion in 2022.

Angola recorded a surplus in trade balance with Spain from 2020 to 2022.

The main imported products include machinery, apparatus and mechanical instruments, motor vehicles, tractors and other land vehicles, as well as electrical materials.

While the most exported products featured fuel, minerals, mineral oils and distillation products, bituminous materials, mineral waxes, fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates, salt, sulphur, earth and stone, plaster, lime and cement, machinery, appliances and mechanical instruments, as well as coffee, tea and spices.

Angola and Spain established diplomatic relations on 19 October 1977, and bilateral relations between the two countries are based on the General Cooperation Agreement signed on 20 May, 1987.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)