French Minister assures assistance to Angola in agri sector by focusing on staff training

The government of France has reiterated its availability to help Angola to develop agriculture, with a focus on staff training.

The pledge came from France's Minister of Agriculture and Food, Didier Guillaume. He said so to the press at the end of an audience granted by the head of State João Lourenço on Monday, April 1 in Angola's capital Luanda.

Didier Guillaume said that the training process will focus on technical and professional and Higher Education. During the audience, the French minister handed over to the Angolan President a letter from his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, whose content has not been disclosed.

France has available Euro 1.5 million to support agricultural projects in Angola, as part of a partnership between the two countries. In turn, the Angolan minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Marcos Nhunga, who accompanied the French official to the Presidential Palace, mentioned the staff training as a priority, as well as working in the cotton and vaccines production.

Marcos Nhunga spoke of the need to professionalise the high agrarian institutes in the country and stressed that a trip to the northern Malanje province with the French counterpart was due for Tuesday to visit the Higher Education Agro-Food Institute.

The audience granted to the French official happens eleven months after President João Lourenço's visit to France. Relations between Angola and France date back from January 1977. There are about 70 French companies operating in Angola and close to 2,500 French nationals working in the country.

The French oil company Total is one of the most important oil producers in Angola which also operate in the non-oil sector, as is the case of the beverage sector, where Castel is one of the majority shareholders of the Angolan beer company Cuca.

With inputs from agencies.

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