Luanda, 01 May (ANGOP) – Angola expects to benefit from USD50 million from the European Investment Bank for the acquisition of vaccines against Covid-19.
Speaking at the opening of official talks with a delegation from the European Council, the President of the Republic, João Lourenço said that as part of the fight against Covid-19, the country had acquired with its own resources six million Sputnik-5 vaccines.
The Head of State said that Angola expects to receive the first half of the mentioned vaccines during May.
During the meeting, held at the Presidential Palace, in Luanda, João Lourenço noted that in the fight against the pandemic Angola had made major investments in physical infrastructures and in their equipment.
He said that this work had resulted in an increase of hospitalisation capacity by over 5,000 new beds, 1,288 of which 1,000 for intensive care units.
The Angolan government’s investment, as part of the fight against the pandemic, also resulted in the acquisition of ventilators and biosafety materials, as well as the hiring and specific training of medical and paramedical staff.
« Since March 2020, the country has a total of 26,178 positive cases, 70 percent of these in Luanda province alone and we regret a total of 591 deaths to date, » the Angolan head of state said.
At the meeting with the delegation headed by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the Angolan Head of State said that the country had started a nationwide vaccination campaign using around 630,000 doses donated by the Covax initiative.
According to President Lourenço, the Covax initiative committed itself to this process (donation), until reaching 13.2 million doses of vaccines.
In the bilateral framework, the Angolan Head of State noted that Angola and the European Union (EU) are working on the elaboration of the investment facilitation agreement and on the realisation of the high-level business forum, scheduled for this year.
He said that Angola and the EU were also working on concluding the process of reviewing the Economic Partnership Agreement, and thus, he added, the National Indicative Programme of the 10th forum with the EU had already resulted in the implementation of eight programmes.
In total, these programmes were budgeted at 132 million euros, and have been supported by the European Investment Bank, mainly in public investment projects in the energy, water and telecommunications sectors.
In his speech, President Lourenço noted that Angola’s economy had always been dependent on revenues from the export of crude oil, which he said was « wrong » and « dangerous, » as it was a product with a very volatile price.
In order to reverse this situation, President Lourenço said, the Angolan government had focused on diversifying the economy, with « a strong focus » on the private sector, by improving the business environment.
The head of the Angolan Government said that the state was holding public tenders for the concession of the management and exploration of port terminals and railroads.
Also as part of improving the business environment, the President of the Republic said that the Angolan state was also selling off assets to private companies, via public tenders and privatisation.
« All these measures come at the same time as a vast campaign to combat corruption and impunity, » said the President of the Republic, who before the official talks between the two delegations had a meeting with the leader of the European Council, Charles Michel, with whom he discussed issues of common interest.
In his speech, the Angolan statesman made reference to the fact that Angola chairs the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and that in this capacity it has been making efforts for the resolution of the conflicts between Rwanda and Uganda.
The Head of State also made reference to Angola’s commitment, in its capacity as acting president of the ICGLR, to the pacification of the Central African Republic (CAR).
Also in his capacity as Acting President of the ICGLR, he underlined the results achieved at the mini-summit held in Luanda on 20 April.
Among the results of the mini-summit, he highlighted the commitment with the main rebel leaders of the CAR to abandon the armed way, as long as the subsequent steps recommended by the summit are taken.
