The Angolan president returned to Luanda on Sunday, after a three-day state visit to Portugal in which the two countries signed a set of 13 cooperation agreements, the Portuguese press reported. The agreements signed between Angola and Portugal cover areas such as justice, teacher training, engineering, tourism, culture, social reintegration, forensic medicine, health, science, innovation and the environment. In the final statement, the government delegations of Angola and Portugal considered that the visit by President João Lourenço to Portugal was of high political significance, which was clear in the meetings between the heads of state of the two countries. In a press conference held in Lisbon, Lourenço said he had “reassured” officials from Portuguese bank Banco Comercial Português (BCP) about the possibility of the Sonangol ceasing to be a shareholder of the bank, in which it has a stake of 19.49%. The Angolan president also said, “it is very unlikely” that Sonangol would be interested in keeping its stake in the Galp Energia group. Sonangol controls 60% of SGPS Esperanza, which in turn holds 45% of SGPS Amorim Energia, which in turn is the largest shareholder of the Galp Energia group, with a 33.34% stake. Lourenço was also given a guarantee by Prime Minister António Costa that Portugal will “provide all the cooperation needed so that the money that belongs to Angola, Angola is accounted for.”

Source: macauhub.com.mo