Luanda, Jan. 20, 2025 (Lusa) - The president of the Luanda-based Angola-Israel Chamber of Commerce said on Monday that although the volume of trade between the two countries is low, there is room for improvement, not least because there is a lot of capital available in Israel for Angola.

Sebastião Francisco, who was speaking to journalists about ways of strengthening trade and attracting Israeli investment to the African country, pointed out that the volume of annual trade is currently below $300 million (€268.7 million), in statements made on the sidelines of the 2nd Economic Forum between the two countries, organised by the Israeli embassy in Angola.

There is more interest on the Israeli side, "but there are difficulties in making interests compatible," according to Francisco.

"This incompatibility has to do with organisation, especially on the part of our businesspeople," he explained. "They... want to know with whom, in what and where they are going to invest. The projects that entrepreneurs present here are not always sufficiently structured to be accepted as a premise for placing their investments."

The chamber's president said that these entrepreneurs are experienced and in order to invest in Angola they require "some stability in their partners."

"That's a very low number for the capital available in Israel to invest in Angola," he said.

Angola and Israel, which have had diplomatic relations since 1993, already co-operate in the areas of agriculture, health, education, aviation, civil construction, fisheries, diamonds, security, cartography and telecommunications, and there has been a great deal of interest in the pharmaceutical industry.

Francisco stressed that the business environment in Angola has changed in recent years and is favourable to investment - an argument that the chamber intends to take to Israel "to motivate those who are there."

Religious tourism, he pointed out, has already taken a large number of Angolans to Israel, on trips organised by churches as well as in many cases on an individual basis.

For his part, Israel's ambassador to Angola, Shimon Solomon, said that the main aim of the meeting was to promote investment in the Portuguese-language country, given the great interest on the Israeli side, as well as on the Angolan side.

The meeting brought together leaders and businesspeople from both countries to analyse existing Angolan investment policies and foster the presence of Israeli businesspeople in Angola.

"There is already business in various sectors, especially in the diamond sector, but there is a lot to explore, for example the Lobito Corridor [a railway infrastructure from interior to the coast] which offers many opportunities that we can embrace," he said.

Solomon argued that the greatest efforts were needed on the Angolan side, but that diplomatic relations between Angola and Israel are the best platform for promoting new investments and improving the quality of existing business.

NME/ARO // ARO.

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