Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ statement following his meeting with the Secretary of State for External Relations of Angola, Esmeralda Mendonça (Luanda, 11.01.2022)

Dear Secretary of State, it is a great pleasure to be in Luanda today.

Greece became an Associate Observer to the Community of Lusophone Countries, the CPLP, last July. The decision was taken during the last Ministerial meeting held under the Angolan Presidency here in Luanda.

And I would like, first of all, to take this opportunity to thank Angola for this initiative, which I hope will pave new avenues of cooperation.

Dear Secretary of State,

I am sorry that my dear friend Tete is not here with us today, but please, allow me to ask you to extend my invitation to him to visit Greece.

My visit here today in Luanda, is the first visit ever of a Greek Minister in Angola.

And I am here under the instructions of my Prime Minister, Prime Minister Mitsotakis, in order to develop the relations between our two countries.

Because we have a lot of catching-up to do.

The signing today of the Memorandum of Understanding on Bilateral Cooperation is the first Agreement ever signed between Greece and Angola.

There is a great potential for us to develop our relations.

We are countries that have no differences whatsoever, but look on many things in the same way.   

Angola has ratified UNCLOS, which for Greece is a very important Convention, as we are a maritime nation and we care a lot about the security and the freedom of navigation in the seas. And by the way, Angola ratified UNCLOS five years before Greece.

We would like to offer Angola all our help, if Angola wishes to train personnel on maritime security.

We would also like to extend to Angola an invitation if there is such a wish, for us to have their personnel trained in the Greek military academies.

Because Angola is a very important country for the security of Africa.

And Africa has the fastest growing economy and the fastest growing population in the world.

We are also here to help, if Angola wishes our help, in the relations with the European Union. And I am glad to take up the proposal by my dear colleague the Secretary of State for a trilateral meeting between Greece, Angola and Portugal.

I would like to thank Angola, deeply from my heart, for her willingness to vote for Greece in the campaign to be elected to the United Nations Security Council for the period 2025-26.

I will repeat my gratitude and the gratitude of my Government to the President of Angola whom I will meet in a while.

Also, allow me to say that I am here to bring 100.000 vaccines as a moral obligation we have towards Angola, to help address the COVID-19 pandemic. And we are here to send more vaccines, if Angola needs them.  And also to help Angola with the software needed to deliver these vaccines, if Angola requests so.

Dear friends,

I consider my presence here as an opening of a new chapter. A new chapter in the relations between us, Greece, and Angola.

And I hope to meet my dear friend Minister Tete António in Athens as soon as possible.

But also, I will transfer to the President the invitation of the President of the Republic of Greece, President Sakellaropoulou, for him to visit Greece when his schedule permits it.

Thank you so much for this great opportunity to be here today in Luanda.