The Spanish shipyard Navantia is negotiating with the Government of Angola to sell six patrol boats to monitor the fishing grounds in the African country.
The company’s president, Ricardo Domínguez, announced last Wednesday in Luanda, the capital of Angola, that the negotiation is “technically resolved” during an economic forum presided by King Felipe VI and the president of Angola, João Lourenço.
The operation also includes the refit of two of the four patrol boats that Bazán -now Navantia– built for the African country in the 1990s and are currently out of service.
Domínguez pointed out that the details of the contract are practically closed, although he avoided giving a date for the signing of the order. Spain will provide credit facilities to the local authorities.
The executive said the terms of this financing are the only thing that remains to be defined.
The president of Navantia pointed out that the visit of the King and Queen of Spain to Angola could be the push that is missing to close the order.
“We have been in contact with them for a year. Technically, everything has been solved. The Secretary of State for Trade has made financing available to them. We hope that this tool can be the one to cover the operation”, explained Domínguez to the media, according to Efe.
The operation contemplates the construction of three low-tonnage ships in the first phase and three others with the same characteristics in the second phase, and also, as mentioned, the refit of two patrol boats.
The president of Navantia also commented that “to fix those two ships would be something quick and easy”.
And he added: “The Spanish shipyard would also provide training to the crew and technical advice. We come here to accompany them, not to build the ship and leave. We are not a company that is just passing through, but there is a commitment from Spain to Angola”.
The operation could also, according to Domínguez, open the door to other contracts in the region.
Navantia is one of the companies that accompanied King Felipe VI during this week’s state visit to Angola.
The business delegation also included representatives from other defense companies such as Elecnor, Airbus, and Indra.
One of the main objectives of this visit was to increase the presence of Spanish companies in the African country with good prospects for growth and political and social stability.
During the meeting, the King urged Spanish companies to take advantage of the “excellent” bilateral relations to do business in Angola, a “priority” country in the region for Spain, which offers, he stressed, “magnificent” investment opportunities.
Felipe VI, as the main standard-bearer of the Spain brand, also highlighted the “knowledge, capacity and technology” that Spanish companies could bring to what was a Portuguese colony until 1975.
With information from Infodefensa