By ARNALDO VIEIRA

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Angolan President João Lourenço left the country Sunday for a state visit to France and Belgium, State House confirmed.

In France, President Lourenço will ink deals in the fields of defence, agriculture and personnel training, a release from State House said.

In Belgium, the Angolan leader is expected to sign an accord to waive visa requirements for diplomats, people on mission services and businesspeople of both countries.

The visit is President Lourenço's first to Europe since his inauguration last year.

He took over from President José Eduardo dos Santos in August 2017, following an election that marked the end of a 38-year reign.

Defence minister

Mr Lourenço had in July 2017, visited France for two days in his capacity as Defence minister and the ruling MPLA party's flag bearer.

France is currently the sixth largest exporter to Angola, after Portugal, the US, China, Brazil and South Africa. It is the third leading external investor in Angola, and has over the last 10 years pumped into the southern Africa state an estimated $10 billion.

Former French President François Hollande visited Angola in July 2015.

Apart from trade in oil, France and Angola have relations on health, education, agriculture and technology.

French oil conglomerate Total is the largest producer in Angola, extracting about 700 barrels daily, or 42 per cent of the country’s total production.

Oil exporter

The British BP and the American Chevron also operate in Angola.

Angola is Africa's second leading oil exporter, but its nationals remain impoverished, seeing little benefit from energy revenues.

According to the United Nations, oil sector represents 97 per cent of Angola’s exportation and 80 per cent of public revenues, and employs one per cent of the population.

France is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and Angola is the chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

The ICGLR comprises 12 states; namely Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.