São Vicente – The Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, on Wednesday in the city of Mindelo, Cabo Verde, emphasized that energetic transition, digital and environmental transformation should be at the centre of countries' priorities by the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) member States, without jeopardising fair equilibrium.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the first international congress, Esperança da Costa, said that the countries and their organizations or companies should focus on the digital transition marked by “Fourth Industrial Revolution (4.0), Big Data, fifth-generation technology standard (5G), artificial intelligence and algorithms”
According to her, all the technologies and tools offer the countries of the region opportunities for a research plan that takes into account the expansion of markets and job creation.
According to her, CPLP member countries need to pay attention to co-operation through technologies to combat the challenges of climate, oceans and biodiversity, guaranteeing the necessary adaptation and building more resilient societies.
In this regard, she said that the strengthening of cooperation must make it possible to reduce the loss of biodiversity and the impact of climate change, which creates social instability, aggravates conflicts, jeopardises the well-being of entire communities in different countries and threatens the achievement of sustainable development goals.
Esperança da Costa revealed that the government is committed to adapting to and reducing environmental phenomena, food and nutritional security and the conservation of different ecosystems, calling for the strengthening of scientific research and development through stronger policies and the financing of the material base.
She added that the Angolan government uses logistic and technologic infrastructures to facilitate the access and digitisation process of different sectors highlighting the creation of “Angola Research Education Network” project which is a network that will allow to link the Higher Education Institution (HEI), the creation of the Virtual University, the computerisation of HEI services and the promotion of digital skills.
The Angolan Vice-President emphasised that the Angolan government had recently approved the Long-Term Development Strategy - Angola 2050, a central instrument of the National Planning System, made up of axes of action with a set of commitments and targets to be achieved.
She said that the state wants to develop a society that values and improves its human capital, modern and competitive infrastructures and that has a diversified and prosperous economy capable of promoting a resilient and sustainable ecosystem that guarantees a fair nation with equal opportunities
Advances in Education sector
Regarding higher education, the Angolan Vice-President highlighted the advancements of this education subsystem by stating that Angola is working to take further steps.
To this end, he said that the Head of State, João Lourenço, has recently determined the creation of a fund with the World Bank, with the Global Partnership for Education, with the aim of increasing access to higher education, guaranteeing quality and strengthening the management of the sector, with a focus on new postgraduate courses, curriculum harmonisation and gender equity, as well as the creation of the Foundation for Scientific and Technological Development (FUNDECIT) with the task to implement the policies on science, technology and innovation to evaluate and approve scientific research and development institutions.
She revealed that the funding mechanism for the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and its main management instruments is intended to meet internationally established standards and help strengthen them.
For Esperança da Costa, the global challenges are forcing the Angolan state to look more to vocational/technical training and increasing postgraduate courses in specialities, with a view to achieving highly qualified human capital in strategic and priority areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and the Arts (STEMA) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
"We are also committed to establishing a Space Industry that is equal to the current and future challenges and certainly the launch of AngoSat2 will help to establish and accelerate the digital transition in Angola and its services in the different sectors of national life, including agriculture and the value chain," she emphasised.
The Vice President said that Angola was also working on the creation of the Centre of Excellence in the area of Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change in Huambo Province and the establishment of the Pharmacognosy Laboratory in Luanda, to make the most of endogenous knowledge and harness the potential of biological resources for the production of medicines.
According to the Angoln stateswoman, within the framework of investment in infrastructures and human capital training, Angola is focused on the completion of the Science and Technology Park and the Luanda Science Centre, which once completed will enable the goals of Angola's National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and development strategy to be realised.
With regard to the congress, she considered it a unique opportunity to exchange experiences and build partnerships, bearing in mind that the training of qualified human capital, with the aim of responding to priority development areas and the needs of the knowledge society, requires a holistic and articulated approach, in which the education and vocational training sectors communicate, cooperate and set integrated intervention strategies.
For her, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions in this age of artificial intelligence with a strong commitment to investing in the digital skills needed for today's challenges.
According to the Angolan Vice-President in the search for development, it is necessary to pay attention to the demographic data taking account the need to build a fair, peaceful, inclusive and sustainable society in which innovation and competitiveness enables to strengthen the value chain.
In the meantime, she invited the organisers of the congress to hold the second edition of the event in Luanda, the capital of Angola.
PA/VM/MRA/jmc
