India-Angola hold first joint commission meeting, reaffirm commitment to strengthen bilateral ties

New Delhi [India], September 8 (ANI): The Indian side offered to share its expertise to support the Angolan Government's economic diversification plans through capacity building, infrastructure development in key areas, a joint press communique after India-Angola first joint Commission meeting said on Tuesday.
The Angola-India Joint Commission held its first session on September 7 through video-conferencing.
The session was co-chaired by the External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and the Minister of External Relations of the Republic of Angola, Ambassador Tete Antonio.
"The two Ministers satisfactorily acknowledged the excellent bilateral cooperation between the two countries and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral ties based on the principles and values of democracy," the joint press communique said.
It said the two Ministers reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations in the areas of political, economic, trade and investment, defence and security and development cooperation. "They also exchanged views on regional and global developments of mutual interest, including counter-terrorism and security."
Stressing that the two sides noted that bilateral exchanges had acquired a renewed push, following the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joao Lourenco at Johannesburg in July 2018 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, it said the meeting set the way forward for intensification of bilateral economic relations.
"The Indian side offered to share India's expertise to support the Angolan Government's economic diversification plans through capacity building, infrastructure development in key areas of health, education, solar electrification, mining, agriculture, fisheries, food processing etc, while also leveraging Angola's strengths in the petroleum and diamonds sector," the joint communique said.
The Joint Commission noted that Angola-India development partnership could be further strengthened through lines of credit and buyer's credit arrangements to enhance capacity of Angolan entities in areas like agriculture, defence, energy, industry, and sustainable water projects, health and pharmacy etc, said the joint communique.
As per the communique, both sides expressed satisfaction at the tangible outcome of the 1st Joint Commission in the form of signing of the following documents -- Agreement on visa exemption for holders of diplomatic, official and service passports; MoU for cooperation in the field of Health ; and MoU for cooperation between Ministry of External Relations of Angola and Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service.
"The Angolan Minister of External Relations congratulated his Indian counterpart on India's election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the term 2021-22. On his turn, the Indian Minister of External Affairs thanked the Angolan Minister for continuing support of Angola to India at the UN and other multilateral bodies and appreciated the positive leadership provided by Angola in facilitating the resolution of disputes and conflicts in Africa through dialogue and negotiation," it said.
"Both the Governments shared the view that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a global scourge and resolved to combat it through coordinated regional and global efforts, including at the UN," it added.
As per the communique, it was agreed that the 2nd session of the Angola-India Joint Commission would be held in New Delhi in 2022 on a mutually convenient date. (ANI)