The Angola-India Joint Commission held its 1st session on 07 September, 2020 through video-conferencing. The session was co-chaired by the External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and the Minister of External Relations of the Republic of Angola, Ambassador Téte António. Both sides comprehensively reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and agreed to diversify the trade relations. Discussions in the meeting included cooperation in health, pharmaceuticals, defence, agriculture, food processing, digitization & telecom. Three MoUs on health, training and visa facilitation were signed during the meeting.
The two Ministers satisfactorily acknowledged the excellent bilateral cooperation between the two countries and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral ties based on the principles and values of democracy. During the meeting the two Ministers also exchanged views on regional and global developments of mutual interest, including counter-terrorism and security.
The two sides noted that bilateral exchanges had acquired a renewed push, following the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President João Lourenço at Johannesburg in July 2018 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. The meeting set the way forward for intensification of bilateral economic relations through partnership in trade & investments, agriculture & food processing, diamond trading, pharmaceuticals, IT & Telecommunication, oil and natural gas etc.
The Indian side offered to share India’s expertise to support the Angolan Government’s economic diversification plans through capacity building, infrastructure development in key areas of health, education, solar electrification, mining, agriculture, fisheries, food processing etc, while also leveraging Angola’s strengths in the petroleum and diamonds sector.
Both sides also agreed to encourage Indian investments in the Information Technologies and telecommunications and cooperate in the field of space so as to benefit the Angolan health and education sectors.
The Joint Commission noted that Angola-India development partnership could be further strengthened through lines of credit and buyer’s credit arrangements to enhance capacity of Angolan entities in areas like agriculture, defence, energy, industry, and sustainable water projects, health and pharmacy etc.
Both sides expressed satisfaction at the tangible outcome of the 1st Joint Commission in the form of signing of the following documents:
i. Agreement on visa exemption for holders of diplomatic, official and service passports;
ii. MoU for cooperation in the field of Health ; and
iii. MoU for cooperation between Ministry of External Relations of Angola and Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service.
The 2nd session of the Angola-India Joint Commission would be held in New Delhi in 2022 on a mutually convenient date.