The Regional Secretary for the Economy highlighted on Monday “the enormous potentialities derived from the strengthening of economic and commercial ties between the Azores and Angola,” stressing “the existence of diverse areas where this strengthening may bring various benefits to both parties.”
Vasco Cordeiro spoke at the end of an audience granted to the Ambassador of Angola in Portugal, José Marcos Barrica, who is undertaking a three-day visit to the Azores, whose agenda includes a series of schedules meetings with several regional business groups as well as a visit to the University of the Azores next Tuesday.
The Regional Secretary for the Economy welcomed the Ambassador of Angola in Portugal at the Conceição Palace on behalf of the President of the Government.
During his trip to the Azores, José Marcos Barrica will visit Lotaçor, SOGEO, Unileite and Cofaco on Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, the Ambassador of Angola in Portugal will participate in a session on Bilateral Cooperation Opportunities between the Azores and Angola. The Chairman of the Agency for the Promotion of Investment in the Azores (APIA), Gualter Couto, will also deliver a speech at this session under the theme “Challenges of Internationalisation of Azorean companies.”
For Vasco Cordeiro, the trip undertaken by José Marcos Barrica to the Azores is the result of several contacts that have intensified since 2005 with the purpose of strengthening “the contribution of the Azores in relations between Portugal and the Republic of Angola.”
According to the Regional Secretary for the Economy, there are already some areas in which the Azores are present in the Angolan market, “such as the case of the agro-industries and dairy exports” and the Region is presently considering to extend this range to areas like fisheries, tourism or others that may be attractive such as the case of renewable energies.”
During the meeting held on Monday morning, Vasco Cordeiro, stressed the “contribution made by the Angolan community in the return to normalcy in the Azores on several occasions, as it happened in the 1998 earthquake on Faial.