Angola set to take sub-Saharan Africa third largest economy slot

Angolan Ambassador to Kenya Sianga Abilio during an interview at their Embassy in Runda, Nairobi on November 9, 2021. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Communities, peoples and countries have dates that significantly mark their journey to the point of listing them in a group of celebratory dates of local, regional and national character. In Angola, the main celebration date is today, November 11th: The Day of the Proclamation of National Independence, in 1975. Therefore, we celebrate today, 47 years, as a free and independent people.

Freedom gave way to self-determination, with the Angolan people becoming masters of their destiny after 500 years of Portuguese colonisation. But, like any people, nation and country, the process of political and economic stabilisation requires a good relationship of interdependence based on a policy of good relations with other peoples and countries, a process that will certainly see better days on our rich continent when the Continental Free Trade area is at its peak.

Angola is currently one of the economic powers of the sub-Saharan region, the largest oil producer in the region with 1.1 million barrels per day and one of the five largest diamond producers in the world. Next year, Angola is expected to regain its position as the third largest sub-Saharan economy, with a GDP that could reach $124 billion.

Meanwhile, the government of my country recognises that in order to achieve socio-economic stability it is necessary to invest significantly in the implementation of projects to diversify the economy. The challenge is to make the agricultural sector more active in the production of foodstuffs and the promotion of agribusiness and the food-processing industry. It is in this and certainly other fields that Angola needs Kenya's know-how.

Given the need to focus on interdependence in order to improve the living conditions of our peoples, the challenge is to make effective economic cooperation between Angola and Kenya a reality as soon as possible, because there is plenty of political will.

What is lacking, and this is what we proposed to do, is to give an/a impulse/push to activate the business and entrepreneurial sectors of the two countries to talk more and then, in a concerted manner, go into action with the support and protection of the two governments, through cooperation agreements, both existing and in the pipeline, that benefit both the public and private sectors.

What we want is for businessmen to take advantage of the excellent historical, political and diplomatic relations between Angola and Kenya to act in their respective markets based in a win-win relationship that promotes the exchange of knowledge wealth and prosperity of the two peoples and nations because if Angola can help Kenya in sectors such as the production and sale of oil from upstream to downstream, Kenya, in turn, can certainly show us the right path for the development of agricultural production and tourism.

At the political and diplomatic level, Angola and Kenya have been on the same wavelength in most diverse international forums and the mediation roles of Angola and Kenya in the pacification efforts in the Great Lakes region with emphasis on eastern DRC are sufficiently demonstrative of this harmony.

Coincidentally, both Angola and Kenya held general elections last August and we are sure that the five-year terms of the President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco and President William Somei Ruto will serve to pave the way already cleared with a view to making bilateral cooperation more dynamic.

And based on the assumption that solid cooperation requires greater interaction between the peoples of the two countries, TAAG, the Angolan flag airline carrier, is planning to launch flights to Nairobi in the second half of next year.

Certainly, when we are more connected, it will be easier to have Angolan long distance runners trained in Kenya, Kenyan oil specialists trained in Angola, Angolan tour operators trained in Kenya, furniture and other products made from Angolan wood on the Kenyan market, Kenyan communication systems using the Angolan satellite Angosat2 which was launched last month into space, and even, good Kizomba dancers in Kenya.

Looking to a not too distant future, and on Angola's National Independence Day, like today, we see a consolidated relationship between Angola and Kenya with Angolan businessmen operating in the Kenyan market and Kenyan businessmen established in Angola, some speaking English and Kiswahili learned in Kenya and others communicating in Portuguese, learned in Angola.

Finally, we foresee a relationship of friendship and cooperation with a very promising future.