Angolan head of State João Lourenço acknowledged Wednesday in Rome, Italy, the existence of great potential for development of bilateral cooperation relations with Italy.

He expressed this to the press at the Presidential Palace in Rome, where he held a meeting with his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella, as part of a two-day visit to the European country.

João Lourenço said there was still great potential to be explored, “there is still much to do”.

Angolan Statesman referred to the fact that the Italian presence in Angola today is restricted, above all, to the sectors of energy, agriculture as well as defence and security.

“We want that Italian investors join other sectors of the Angolan economy, such as ornamental stones, wood industries (furniture manufacturing), pharmaceuticals, among others”, he said.

The Statesman noted that the country’s doors are open to receive Italian investors.

On the conversation, the Angolan President added that the time was used to address not only bilateral issues of an economic nature, but also cultural cooperation between the two countries.

He added that Italy has one of the best universities in the world, where there is a certain number of Angolan students. But it is in the interest of the Angolan authorities that this number can increase.

During the statement, he reaffirmed the country’s support for the Italian capital (Rome) to host Expo Universal 2030.

He said that the meeting also reviewed the world issues, like those of various armed conflicts that, “unfortunately, still exist in Africa”.

He mentioned, as example, the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as the tense situation in the countries of the so-called Sahel region, which include Mali, Borkina Faso, Guinea, Nigeria and Sudan.

As of the armed conflict in Sudan, the Angolan statesman said it has so far

claimed many lives and internally displaced and refugees, as well as the

destruction of property.

The meeting also addressed the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which makes the world to be in the grips of the worst humanitarian, food and energy crisis, never experienced since the World War II, ended in 1945.

President João Lourenço also reiterated the common positions of Angola and Italy in condemning the invasion, occupation and annexation of part of the Ukrainian territory by Russia.

Therefore, they called for an immediate end to the conflict, as well as for a cease-fire to be reached quickly.

However, the parties defended the resumption of negotiations to guarantee peace and security, not only for Ukraine, for Europe, but the world.

He warned that should the peace fails the world risk to face a nuclear conflict, which is regrettable for the whole world.

Angolan president visit to Rome comes to reciprocate the visit of the Italian Statesman, Sergio Mattarella, to Angola, in 2019, in this case, the first Italian Head of State to visit the country.

The two countries formalised diplomatic and cooperation relations on June 4, 1976 and on August 3, 1977 they signed the Technical Cooperation Agreement, as well as the Memorandum of Intents, through which the Angola/Italy Joint Commission was created.

Both States signed the first legal instrument called the Air Transport Agreement on April 10, 1976.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)