Luanda - Angola's ambassador to Cuba, Maria Cândida Teixeira on Friday in Havana, highlighted the help the Cuban people gave in the defence of national sovereignty and fight against the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Speaking at the celebration of the 48th anniversary of national independence, the ambassador thanked the Cuban people and the then commander Fidel Castro for their prompt intervention, with human and military resources, in an epic operation dubbed "Operation Carlota".
"The date of 11 November led Angola to assert itself as a sovereign and independent state in the difficult and complex context of the Cold War, in a bipolarised world divided by confrontation within the international community," the diplomat said.
Maria Cândida Teixeira also conveyed a message of appreciation to the first countries that recognised Angola's independence very early on, a total of 18, including two from Latin America (Brazil and Cuba), 11 from Africa and five from Europe.
Speaking on the main achievements of the 48 years of independence and the commitment of the Angolan government, especially since peace was achieved in 2002, the Angolan diplomat highlighted the construction of modern hospitals, airports, railways, schools and housing, as well as the hiring of thousands of teachers, doctors and nurses, most of them trained in Cuba.
"The Angolan government has launched a policy to diversify the economy in order to make the country's development more sustainable, based on the potential of natural resources, with measures aimed at attracting domestic and foreign investment," the ambassador said.
Cuba and Angola currently cooperate in various fields and in addition to more than 54 bilateral agreements, three more were recently signed, namely the Memorandum of Understanding in the field of Tourism, Medicines Regulation and Investment Promotion between the Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone and Mariel Special Development Zone in Cuba.MRA/AMP
