Luanda - The Minister of State for Social Affairs, Maria de Rosário Bragança, reiterated on Tuesday in Luanda the commitment of the Angolan Government to stimulate and promote national production, to ensure food security in the country.
Presiding over the opening act of the Luanda International Fair (FILDA 2024), which runs until the 28th of this month, in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the minister stressed that the Angolan Executive has great confidence and hopes in the role of the private sector, as it believes that the country will only have a strong and competitive economy, with a strong business class.
She highlighted the Programme to Support Production, Export Diversification and Import Substitution (PRODESI), stressing that it will continue to follow its path, with the aim of increasing the supply of essential goods and wide consumption, diversifying the range of export products, ensuring greater foreign exchange collection, as well as increasing the supply of essential goods.
The country, she said, has the potential to become an exporter of excellence, as it has more than 50 million hectares of arable land, more than 5% of the world's freshwater reserves, an ideal climate for agribusiness, a blue economy and several sea ports and railways that guarantee the rapid flow and export of its production.
She also added that the recent opening of the new Dr. António Neto airport, with all its installed potential, effectively demonstrates the Government's commitment to building a prosperous Angola.
Since the beginning of economic reforms in 2018, she recalled, the country has worked continuously to lay the foundations for more sustainable economic growth, which have allowed the country to overcome a recessionary cycle and improve the business environment.
With this dynamism, she said, it is expected to attract more investments in the production of food such as cereals, sugar, in the livestock sector, fisheries, among others, relevant to the economy and that can create jobs for young people.
She added that the Angolan Government, as a facilitator of this interaction, seeks to ensure that political and economic reforms can positively influence the strengthening of partnerships in the real economy and the attraction of a greater volume of investments.
According to Maria do Rosário Bragança, food security has become a concern not only in Angola, but throughout the African continent, where the weight of food in the structure of expenses is high, especially due to the dependence on its imports, due to the impacts of territorial instability and climate change.
With this, she said, food security and international partnership are a factor of economic diversification, fostering innovation, resilience and competitiveness.
She said that FILDA is the main business exchange in the country, which appears to be an instrument to attract investors, financiers, entrepreneurs and consumers with a view to expanding the purposes of commercial exchange, identifying and fostering business opportunities.
FILDA 2024 runs until next Sunday (28), under the motto 'Food security and international partnership: The binomial of economic diversification', in a joint organization of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Eventos Arena group.
The event promotes the development of business and commercial partnerships between national and international economic agents, and should promote the debate aimed at encouraging and fostering national production.
The event is scheduled to address current issues that will add value to the dynamics of perception of reality, challenges and opportunities of the angro-industry, logistics and certification chains, financial instruments to support investment, tourism and the promotion of quality culture for the promotion and internationalization of national production. ASS/QCB
