Angolan president to address European Parliament
Sunday July 01 2018
Angolan President Joao Lourenco during his first press briefing to mark 100 days in office at the Presidential Palace in Luanda on January 8, 2017. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Angolan President João Lourenço will Wednesday address the European Parliament (EP) in the Belgian capital Brussels, the media confirmed.
The Portuguese news agency, Lusa, quoted a note from the EP saying President Lourenço would talk about the cooperation of Angola and the EP in development, migration as well as peace and stability in Africa.
Angola heads the Southern African Development Community (SADC) organ for Cooperation, Defence and Politics, while South Africa is the regional bloc's chair.
The chair
The SADC bloc also includes Botswana, DR Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland (now eSwatini), Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In May, President Lourenço visited France and Belgium and met in Brussels the head of the European Counsel, Mr Donald Tusk.
Angola is also the chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). 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.
Oil sector
Angola is Africa's leading oil exporter but its nationals remain impoverished, seeing little benefit from energy revenues.
President Lourenço has since his ascendance to power last August, largely deviated from the path trodden by his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled for 38 years.
According to the United Nations, the 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 who with less than $2 per day.