São Tomé’s government wants to cancel its debt of about US$320 million with Angola

The São Tomé’s government wants to cancel a debt of about US$320 million with Angola, under a new economic cooperation agreement signed with representatives of the Angolan government, in the São Tomé capital, it was announced today.

“In the agreement signed, we foresee from this stage to develop a new strategy in the economic area so that there is greater productivity for both parties, so that, after all, we can stop the growing debt and be able to implement business in other areas,” said the São Tomé’s Finance Minister, Genésio da Mata, at the end of three days of work with an Angolan ministerial delegation that was in São Tomé.

Genésio da Mata noted that Angola is one of São Tomé’s “main partners and creditor,” and during these days of work, the parties sought to refocus “a new strategy of cooperation in the economic field.

According to the San Tomean Finance Minister, during the work, the parties recognized the bilateral debt between the two states, as well as the fuel debt that the San Tomean Water and Electricity Company (Emae) has with the National Fuel and Oil Company (Enco), of which the Angolan state is the largest shareholder, through Sonangol.

“The bilateral debt with Angola is estimated at around US$68 million, and the commercial debt [of Emae] is around US$252 million,” said Genésio da Mata.

The Finance Minister noted the desire to halt debt growth with Angola and stressed the need to “adopt measures to stop the wave of debt” at all levels.

“We have a debt capacity limit that must be respected, and we must adopt a strategy to work towards wealth creation that can deal with the current debts,” said the São Tomé leader.

The Angolan delegation was headed by the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Júnior, and also included the Ministers of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, of Culture and Tourism, Filipe Silvino de Pina Zau, as well as the Secretaries of State for International Cooperation and Angolan Communities, Custódio Vieira Lopes, and for Civil Aviation, Maritime and Port, Emílio Londa.

Also part of the delegation were the deputy governor of the National Bank of Angola, the president of the Agency for Private Investment and Export Promotion, the president of Sonangol, the president of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Asset Management, and State Participation and the president of the National Oil and Gas Agency.

After signing the agreement, no Angolan representative gave statements to journalists.

After the meeting with the São Tomé President, Carlos Vila Nova, the Angolan Foreign Minister, Téte António, underlined the good relations between the two countries.

“What we really want is to transform these excellent relations from a political point of view into economically solid relations from a business point of view.

Several business opportunities will certainly interest both countries, and we will continue to deepen those investment and business opportunities,” said the head of the Angolan diplomacy.

“All of this will contribute so that the São Toméan economy grows more, also so that Angola can benefit from this growth of São Tomé that is certainly expected. I would say that we came here to deal with strategic cooperation so that both parties win,” underlined Téte António.

With information from Sapo

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