Mauritius, August 16th 2004 - The privatisation process in Angola is going ahead in the context of a national reconstruction program. How does that relate to the economic programs of the SADC community?

We are building a common market that should be inaugurated in 2008. This will require a great deal of effort from Angola in terms of the development of industrial potential and trade activity. Therefore, privatisation is one of the tools which we are exercising in order to boost production and growth rates, and contribute to SADC integration in the global economy.

What is the strength of Angola in the SADC region?

One of our strengths is the oil industry. Yet we only refine for local consumption, and export the rest of our production. Therefore one of our strategic plans will be to develop the refined production.

Angola is looking to build other niche markets like coffee exports and agricultural production of flour, cotton and other crops. We are also hoping to acquire expertise in the area of agricultural transformation, in order to produce finished products as well. Finally, fishing is another niche market thanks to our long coastline that offers a rich variety of fish and seafood.

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Security is an important consideration for any foreign investor. What are you doing to prove to investors that Angola is a good market and a safe destination?

My feeling is that there is a general assessment that Angola is a safe place to invest in, illustrated by the security that has been granted to foreign investors in the oil industry. What we need to do now is show that the same level of security exists for any foreign investor. In order to achieve this, we need to improve our reliability and increase the responsiveness of our administration, which we are presently working on. We have improved the law on private investments and adopted a new set of financial incentives, while we modernized our customs authority and set up a one-stop shop for the creation of new enterprises. We have also modernized our banking system and opened the door for foreign banks to open branches in Angola.

Therefore, we have adopted the basic ingredients to support the arrival of foreign investment. We now need to give some time to the international community to trust us and to consider our programs. In addition to this, we have signed Mutual Corporate Protection agreements with numerous countries in order to increase the protection and attraction of Angola towards foreign investors. Of course, laws are not enough and we now need to give the process some time to develop and raise interest of the international community.

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