Luanda - The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, António de Assis, clarified Thursday in Luanda that “there is no ban on the import of animal protein,” such as pork and chicken by-products by the Angolan government, which defends the local processing of these products.
Quoted in a press release to which ANGOP had access Friday, the minister made this clarification during the audience he granted to the United States ambassador to Angola, Tulinabo Mushingi, who sought to know about the state of play of the importing process of these products.
In response, António de Assis explained that the Angolan government is calling for greater supervision, control and organization of the sector when it comes to granting licenses to economic operators in this segment.
“What we have asked importers to do is, instead of importing chicken skin, necks, legs and other parts of the chicken, to import the whole chicken and not the parts of this foodstuff,” the minister said.
The minister clarified that the same scenario applies to pork products, where the government wants businesspeople to import the whole pig, which is more profitable, rather than its parts, which can be produced in the country.
Although domestic production doesn't meet demand, the government official explained that the issue lies in the reduction of foreign currency that the country spends on importing these products, which end up “not giving dignity to families”.
“The import of animal protein is definitely not prohibited, but there are priorities as to what should be imported, because the import of these derivatives is not a priority. That's why there's a false idea that we're banning the entry of animal protein,” the minister said.
The US ambassador on his turn said he has received complaints from various businesspeople and partners of the US Embassy about the Angolan government's ban on the import of poultry, cattle and pork products.
The meeting between Minister António Francisco de Assis and the American diplomat allowed questions to be raised about institutional cooperation, the ban or not on the import of poultry, beef and pork offal, as well as analyzing cooperation agreements in the field of Angola's forest inventory. EH/QCB/AMP
