Luanda (Angola), Nov 10 (PTI): Angola has come forward to partner with India in some “very critical” areas of cooperation like renewable energy, wildlife conservation and management, and biofuels and these are “very significant” outcomes of President Droupadi Murmu’s state visit to the African nation, a top government official said on Monday.
Sudhakar Dalela, Secretary (economic relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said this while briefing the press here on the third day of Murmu’s visit, the first by an Indian head of state.
Presenting an overview of the high-level interactions Murmu had with her Angolan counterpart Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco, Dalela said there was a “strong and positive momentum in the bilateral ties.” “Both the leaders reviewed the existing bilateral cooperation in various sectors including trade and investment, agriculture, health, infrastructure development, capacity building, defence, and also development partnership.
“They discussed ways to further strengthen and expand our cooperation in these sectors with a shared commitment to sustainable growth and mutual prosperity,” Dalela said.
He said the discussions reiterated the commitment to “encourage private sector…and private sector (was) playing a big and important role in advancing India, Angola ties of friendship and cooperation.” We have signed two MOUs during this visit, one relating to cooperation in fisheries, aquaculture and marine resources and the other to counsellor matters, he said.
Angola, the secretary said, has agreed to join the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) and the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA), two initiatives that were led by India. IBCA focuses on conserving seven big cat species and their habitats and also promotes the sharing of best practices, funding, research, and expertise to support conservation. The GBA aims to accelerate the development and adoption of sustainable biofuels as part of the clean energy transition.
It was established during the G20 presidency of India in 2023 in New Delhi, and there are seven nations as its members till now.
“We are very happy that Angola has joined these two initiatives during this visit,” Dalela said.
The secretary said during the visit of the President of Angola to India this year in May, the country had agreed to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA) as well.
“Angola has come forward to partner with India and other members in these very critical areas of cooperation in renewable energy, in conservation and wildlife management, and, of course, the biofuel alliance.
“So, all these to my mind are very significant outcomes of this visit and we would like to build upon these agreements and MOUs…,” he said.
The secretary added that this visit, which will end on Tuesday (November 11), was “extremely important” for us from the larger context of India-Africa engagement also. PTI NES RD RD
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