Mpumalanga to sign a memorandum of understanding with Angola

MBOMBELA- Mpumalanga province will soon be signing a memorandum of understanding with one of the provinces of Angola, Cuando Cubango, in an effort of starting working relations.

According to Zibonele Mncwango speaker of premier’s office the commitment was made on August 2 in Mbombela, by the premier  David Mabuza and his counterpart from the Province of Cuando Cubango in Angola, General Higino Carneiro, who is in the province on a three-day fact finding mission on investment opportunities.

 Mabuza and General Carneiro held discussions and later met with business owners and  will today visit various provincial government’s infrastructure investment projects including the site for the International Convention Centre, Cultural Hub, skywalk, cable way as well as the Manyeleti Nature Reserve.

Mabuza  has previously paid a visit to the  Province of Cuando Cubango in honour of  an invitation from the Governor, who enticed him with various business opportunities, which local business people could tap into especially in the mining and agricultural sectors.

 “The General, took me around his province, I was fascinated by lots and lots of water and huge space, which I believe our business people can go and do business on stock and plant farming there. There is potential in the continent provided we work together in boosting our economies.

“As South Africans, we must also remember that the Angolans, just like other countries, the Angolans sacrificed their lives for our liberation, the least we can do in appreciation is to work together and empower ourselves.

“The Province of Cuando Cubango hosted our comrades, gave them food during the struggle, we can only strengthen our long friendship because we cannot be separated, we are one family.

“I agree that we need to sign a memorandum of understanding that will detail how we will work together going forward. The General’s visit in our province to see for himself what we can offer them, is the beginning of the long road that we must travel,” said Mabuza.

Mabuza also encouraged business people to start having business interests and starting partnerships with the Angolan business people.

“As a government, we are relying on business people to work hard and change our face in the world. In their quest of making money, they are also making us look good to the world. We want to see long lasting friendships between our provinces as we are now all working for peace and development in our countries,” said Mabuza.

General Carneiro also said  that there were various business opportunities in his province and they had decided to go all out and start relations with other partners out of their country.

He said they had enough space for farming and there were also business opportunities on mining and tourism.

“Our province was destroyed by the war, therefore we have a little infrastructure, but we have many opportunities for the investors since we are in the process of reconstruction in our country.

“Given the economic situation we have in our country, we have realized that we need to make priorities and make partnerships. We hope we can cooperate with Mpumalanga province and strengthen the relations between our two countries,” said General Carneiro.

He has since invited the Mpumalanga business people to attend the expo, which will be hosted by his province in Angola to learn about many business opportunities available.

He added that he was looking forward to sign a memorandum of understanding with Mpumalanga province at least by September this year.