UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero today begins a four-day visit to Angola, where he will take part in an oil industry conference and meet with government representatives on UNCTAD´s technical cooperation projects in the country. At press time, his agenda was as follows:
Tuesday, 20 May
12h10: Arrives at Luanda airport, where he will be met by the Minister of Petroleum and the Minister of Commerce of Angola. The latter will accompany him throughout the visit.
Afternoon: bilateral meetings with:
- the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President of the National Assembly of Angola
- Rafael Joachim Branco, Minister of Infrastructures, Natural Resources and Environment of Sao Tomé and Principe
- Esperancia Bias, Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Mozambique
Wednesday, 21 May
9h00-10h30: Participates in the opening ceremony for the 7th African Oil & Gas, Trade & Finance Conference, National Assembly Hall (for background, see Press Release TAD/INF/PR72 of 14 May).
10h30-11h00: press conference, National Assembly Hall
To be determined (TBD): Opens conference seminar on trade and environment
16h30-19h00: bilateral meetings with:
- Mohamed Mazari-Boufares, head of the Algerian delegation and Strategy Director, Sonatrach (Algerian national oil company)
- Rilwanu Lukman, Presidential Advisor for Petroleum Affairs and Energy, Nigeria
- Gabriel Nguema Lima, Secretary of State for Mines and Hydrocarbons, Equatorial Guinea
- US delegation (John Brodman, Asst. Secretary, US Department of Commerce, and Kevin Murphy, Asst. Secretary, US Department of Energy)
Thursday, 22 May
8h00-8h45: Special Breakfast Forum with African Ministers and the US delegation, Alvalade Hotel
TBD: meetings with Angolan government representatives, who at press time included the Minister of Commerce, Minister of Finance, Prime Minister and President
TBD: Delivers lecture at Catholic University of Angola
Friday, 23 May
Visits to Angolan historical sites, including the Museum of Slavery, organized by the Government of Angola
17h30-18h00: Participates in conference closing ceremony, with the Minister of Petroleum, the CEO of Sonangol (Angola´s national oil company) and the CEO of Onarep (Morocco´s national oil company; Morocco will host next year´s conference in Marrakech).
23h00: Departs from Luanda
Highlights of UNCTAD activities in Angola
- UNCTAD is about to begin a pilot project aimed at diversifying the Angolan economy away from its dependence on commodities (particularly oil) and into such sectors as textiles and fisheries. The project will create three business centres and two "business incubators" for local small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is being jointly administered by UNDP under funding from Chevron Texaco Corporation and other donors...
- UNCTAD´s computerized system for debt management and financial analysis (DMFAS) is being installed in the Central Bank of Angola. The terms, ledger balances and ledger transactions that are uploaded by the system will greatly improve the Bank´s capacity to manage the country´s external debt. The project started in 1999 and is being financed by the World Bank and the Angolan government.
- A project that began last year on commercial diplomacy and WTO accession of Portuguese-speaking countries is helping these countries to participate in the multilateral trading system, particularly in the negotiations under the Doha work programme. The project is being financed by Portugal.
- UNCTAD is helping Angola with three aspects of competition law and capacity-building. It is about to launch a training of trainers on competition law; is helping to draft legislation on competition law and to improve the existing consumer protection law; and is helping in the preparatory process leading up to the WTO Cancún conference this fall.
- An UNCTAD port training programme for the five Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa has been under way since September of last year. The training is aimed at improving the skills of port managers and related enterprises and developing a network for cooperation among ports in order to enhance maritime trade.
- Training in international trade and trade-related sectors will also be provided to least developed countries (LDCs) - a category to which Angola belongs - under a project that began in 2002.
