Via Angola Press, a report on Angola’s efforts to encourage foreign investment in effort to boost agriculture output, including a pending agreement with the United Arab Emirates on a significant investment into the country’s agriculture sector:

Businesspeople from the public and private sectors of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey have recently expressed their interest in obtaining concessions for large areas of land for agricultural production and forestry, ANGOP learned this Monday.

Investment in wood processing, honey, fish processing, development of mariculture and inland aquaculture are also part of the intentions of companies in both countries.

The intentions, expressed during the working visit of an Angolan delegation to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, follow on from the visits made by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, last July, to the respective countries, according to a press release that arrived today at ANGOP.

According to the document, the visit of the Angolan delegation to the two countries, which took place from 31 August to 7 September this year, aimed to present the potential and investment opportunities existing in Angola, as well as to identify and invite potential businesspeople interested in investing in the Affican country.

In addition, according to the note from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the stay of the Angolan delegation in those countries allowed visits to productive enterprises, as well as meetings and contacts with representatives of public and private institutions, business and professional associations, with a view to reinforcement of cooperation between Angola and the two States.

On the occasion, the secretary of State for Farming, João Manuel Bartolomeu da Cunha, who headed the Angolan delegation, assured that the Angolan Government will make efforts to materialize the intentions presented by the public and private companies of the respective countries.

He reiterated the invitation for businesspeople to travel to Angola in the shortest possible time, under the terms of the legislation in force and the appropriate existing mechanisms.

Diplomatic relations between Angola and Turkey date back to 1980. The two countries already have cooperation agreements in the areas of trade, agriculture, education, culture, defence, justice and sport.

In Angola, Turkey has investments in the provinces of Luanda and Uíge, in the areas of industry, commerce, education and civil engineering.

On the other hand, Angola and the UAE cooperate in the sectors of oil and gas, mining, trade and investment,energy, defense, transport, agriculture, fishing, banking, telecommunications and finance and tax sect.

The United Arab Emirates is located in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula and borders Oman and Saudi Arabia.