Italy-Angola - A market beacon in Africa, says Terzi

By Embassy of Italy in Luanda

LUANDA, Angola, June 19, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Angolan market is, for Italy, “one of the African continent's points of reference, and not only in terms of the major energy firms operating there”, said Minister Giulio Terzi in a speech he delivered at Angola Investment Day, in which he underscored how that country was one of the most representative of “African dynamism”.

Bilateral trade up 252% compared with 2010

"Italy too”, continued the minister, who met today with his Angolan counterpart Georges Chikoti, “has become a market for Angola", as witnessed by the 252% spike in trade between our two countries in 2011 compared with 2010, owing mainly to Italy's importation of Angolan crude oil following the Libyan crisis and the political situation in Iran.

EU-Angola Joint Way Forward, a broad-based partnership

In confirmation of Italy's good relations with Angola, having been the first Western country to recognise its independence in 1975, our country “has the ability to foster a stronger bond between Africa's aspirations and Europe's expectations”, Terzi added, underscoring that “this is the spirit with which we place our hopes in the success of the broad-based partnership known as the EU-Angola Joint Way Forward”.

Two accords

Terzi and Chikoti also signed two accords: one abolishing the visa requirement for diplomatic passports and one on cultural, scientific and technological collaboration. Chikoti thanked Italy for its decades of partnership, pointing out that his country was a young one and an “ideal environment for doing business”. For that reason, in addition to abolishing the visa requirement for diplomats, Luanda is also asking that restrictions on business travel be reduced to a minimum. Chikoti added that the two ministers had discussed the future possibility of direct flights between Italy and Angola.