President Jose dos Santos of Angola is still irritated in the extreme with Portugal's cheek in taking legal action against some of Angola's business cummunity but the president of the Industrial Association of Angola, José Severino, said today that although he was "concerned" about the tension between Portugal and Angola but believes that "the storm" will end.
"We are convinced that this is a storm that soon will be over. It’s essential that relations between Angola and Portugal return to normal, but it’s worrying of course," said Severino speaking after statements made on Wednesday on Angolan Television by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Georges Chikoti who stunned Porttugal’s business community by announcing an end to cooperation with Portugal, choosing instead to develop trading relations with South Africa, China and Brazil.
Regarding the first Luso-Angolan summit, originally scheduled for later this year but postponed to February 2014, and now perhaps irrelevant, the Angolan minister said he was very sure it would happen.
José Severino said, "obviously it’s in everyone’s interests that relations between Angola and Portugal remain harmonious, there are vital interests between the two societies, between the two peoples and between companies."
"The Portuguese have a vast knowledge of Angola and we should ask the politicians to find a balance," he added .
José Severino is not restricting Angola’s strategic partnerships to a limited number of countries because “Angola needs to grow.”
"I think that the statement made by minister Chikoti is relevant. Angola needs strategic partnerships with other countries as our Gross Domestic Product in 2013 is only growing by 5% when 7% was forecast," he said.
"Our population growth is 3.5% which means that we are not actually impoverished but we have to become richer,” concluded the President of the Industrial Association of Angola, keen to pour oil on politically troubled waters, stirred up by Portugal’s legal action against some of Angola’s more corrupt business people, and not helped in a tit-for-tat legal action agaiunst some Portuguese business people in Angola.
