The Japanese ambassador to Angola, Hironori Sawada, last Saturday in Luanda said that the participation of the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, in the Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development (TICAD 7) enabled to raise the interest of Japan’s private sector in the Angolan market.
Hironori Sawada, who made such utterance in the celebration ceremony of the Japanese Emperor’s anniversary, said that the meeting between President João Lourenço and the Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, in August 2019, during the TICAD 7 summit, marked an important step for the two countries to begin a new era of co-operation.
He went on to say that since the establishment of bilateral relations forty years ago, the two countries have been working to strengthen the bilateral ties, with positive results being noted in the past few years, thanks to the efforts made by public and private sections of both states.
He also reminded that the year 2019 was a landmark due to the fact that an agreement was signed for the implementation of the Integrated Project for the Namibe Bay, which is to be implemented by Toyota Tsusho and TOA Corporation.
He said this is a project estimated at USD 600 million for the development of ports infrastructures in Namibe bay.
In this ambit, the Japan’s Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) firm will manage the project that include the expansion of the Containers Terminal and the repair of the Minerals Terminal.
The Japanese firm believes that the project, whose conclusion is scheduled for the year 2022, will reduce Angola’s dependence on crude oil and help with the reconstruction of infrastructures that were destroyed during the civil war period, besides providing jobs.
The two countries have also been advancing with the co-operation in the area of telecommunications, more precisely in the development of digital television in Angola.
Japan has also been stepping up its financial credits to Angola, such is the recent case with the financing that enabled Angola to rehabilitate three textile plants, namely SATEC (Cuanza Norte Province), África Têxtil (Benguela Province) and Textang II (Luanda), with a global amount of USD 1.2 billion.
Japan also donated USD 40 million for the rehabilitation of the Namibe Port, which started in the year 2007. The Asian country’s philanthropic acts in the southern African state are extended to the areas of demining and electrification.
Source: Angop
