Media Remarks by Minister Nkoana-Mashabane at the conclusion of Bilateral Talks with the Angolan Minister of External Relations, Mr Manuel Domingos Augusto, 09 November 2017, OR Tambo Building, Pretoria
Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the media
Today I received and hosted my counterpart, Minister of External Relations, Mr Manuel Domingos Augusto, on a Working Visit to Pretoria.
The Minister is accompanied by senior officials from Angola.
This year has been characterised by a number of high-level interactions between South Africa and Angola. On 26 September 2017, President Jacob Zuma attended the inauguration ceremony of H.E. President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço after successful elections. To this effect, President Zuma has invited President Lourenço to pay a State Visit to South Africa from 23 November 2017 and President Gonçalves Lourenço has accepted the invitation. This will be his first state visit to our country after his inauguration.
He Mr Manuel Domingos Augusto and I also met on 25 October 2017 where we discussed the political and security situations with particular focus on Lesotho in our capacity as SADC chair of Summit and Organ Troika respectively.
You will be aware that our two countries have strong historical and fraternal ties dating back from the days during the period of the liberation struggle when Angola housed and supported South African liberation cadres in various camps in that country.
During our discussion this morning we have agreed on various ways to forge a continued strategic partnership between ourselves and noted that Trade and economic cooperation between the two countries has grown substantially, to the extent that South Africa is Angola’s number one trading partner on the continent and a number of South African companies are involved in Angola in a variety of sectors including construction, mining, housing, retail, food and beverages, hotels and leisure, banking and medical services (rescue).
Amongst other issues we discussed the following:
- The need to strengthen and expand the levels of trade and investment between the two countries
- People to people contact
- Regional issues including SADC,
- Our shared commitment to continue to work together on global matters, particularly in advancing the African Agenda.
In our discussion, we also looked at the programme for the preparations for the historic state visits of H.E. President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço. In this regard all preparations are in place and as South Africa we look forward to welcome President on 23 November 2017 in Pretoria.
In conclusion, we reaffirmed the warm relations between our two countries and our desire to continue to collaborate on matters of mutual interest.
I would now like to give this opportunity to Minister Manuel Domingos Augusto to deliver his remarks.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION
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