The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, who concluded yesterday his three-day visit to the People’s Republic of China, received in separate audiences more than 20 business leaders from this Asian country who expressed interest in investing in Angola
Companies already established in Angola express their interest in continuing to invest or launch in the Angolan space. These are sectors such as agriculture, represented by Sharpland Group, jewelry represented by Chow Tai Fook Jewelery Ltd, energy represented by TBEA, a giant in the construction of electrical infrastructures, including ports, railways, aluminum, between others.
Yesterday, in Shandong Province, the Head of State visited the production units of Qihe Biotech’s edible mushroom cultivation base. It is a high-technology company that works in research and development, production, sales and exports, in addition to technological demonstration. The mushroom cultivation base has the capacity to produce, in each of the greenhouses, around 100 thousand kilograms/year.
The duration for growth in substrate is around two to three months. Later, the Angolan Head of State visited the Lutai Group, a supplier of cutting-edge clothing and fabrics, currently considered the largest producer of dyed fabrics in the world. The manufacturing unit, which mainly produces shirts, has four fabric lines and has 20 sample colors. João Lourenço also visited Xinhua Medical Instrument Co LTD, which manufactures medical products: medicines and high-quality hospital supplies.
During the visits, the Angolan statesman learned about the functioning of each of the units and was open to them being able to explore the Angolan market, within the scope of the economic partnership. In response, Chinese companies expressed interest in exploring the Angolan market, so they could invest and help in Angola’s economic development. Shandong is a province with a population of around 102 million people. It is the second largest in terms of population, behind Guangdong.
With a stock valued at US$18,410.2 million, corresponding to 37.27% of Angola’s total external public debt (valued at around US$49,387.7 million by the third quarter of 2023), China remains the largest Angola’s creditor, despite the Angolan Government’s efforts to reduce its debt. In 2022, trade volume between the two countries was more than 22 million US dollars, an increase of 26 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Chinese Embassy in Angola (one US dollar is equivalent to around 824 Kwanzas) .
Lobito Refinery and Corridor
With the dynamization of the Lobito Corridor, President João Lourenço said, during the Angola-China Business Forum, that he would like to see Chinese investors investing in the production of food products, cereals and grains, sugar; in livestock, fisheries and the pharmaceutical industry for the production of medicines and vaccines. The invitation was also extended to the battery production industry for the manufacture of electrically powered cars, the production of photovoltaic panels for the production of solar energy, tourism and other sectors of the economy that are of interest.
“We also invite Chinese businesspeople to invest in certified medicine and vaccine production factories, whose main customer will be the Angolan State, to feed the national health system whose network of public hospitals has been growing significantly every year” he highlighted. Finally, he spoke about the construction of the Lobito Refinery, which he described as “the largest oil refinery that will have an important petrochemical industry associated with it” and launched an invitation to Chinese businesspeople to invest in the project as shareholders