Luanda - The Indian ambassador to Angola, Pratibha Parkar, Friday in Luanda said her country intended to expand areas of cooperation in Angola, as she considered the African country to have several investment opportunities.
The Indian diplomat, who was speaking during a briefing with journalists on the occasion of the celebration of Christmas and 75 years of independence of her country, said they planned to expand cooperation in the areas of agriculture, using new technologies, diamonds, telecommunications, traditional medicine and pharmaceutical products, amongst others.
The Indian diplomat noted that this factor was due to the fact that bilateral relations between the two countries were satisfactory, so they have been working to diversify relations in other areas of mutual interest, taking into account the huge opportunity for cooperation between the two countries.
Pratibha Parkar explained that the interest in the diamond sector arose due to Angola being one of the world's biggest producers and India being a leader in polishing, focusing on generating jobs for Angolans.
She said that Indian companies were willing to take advantage of investment opportunities in Angola in the telecommunications and information technology sector, as well as to share information and help in the digitalisation process of the Angolan government.
According to Pratibha Parkar, the two countries can work mutually and join synergies with the aim of achieving common benefits.
He recalled that every year the Indian government has provided 40 scholarships for Angolans to study in the Asian nation.
Trade between the two states, in the 2017-2019 period, reached US$3 billion in exports and US$4.3 million in imports, dominated by shipments of Angolan oil to India.
As per the data advanced, the trade balance between Angola and India is favourable to Angola, a noticeable increase in the last three years, compared to previous years, having gone from about USD 4.0 billion to USD 4.5 billion between 2017 and 2018, USD 4.4 billion in the period 2018-2019 and USD 4.0 billion in the period 2019-2020.
In this period (2019-2020), imports from India were USD 3.7 billion and exports were USD 0.3 billion.
Angola imports from that Asian country, essentially, pharmaceutical products, agricultural machinery, electrical materials, motor vehicles, among others.
India and Angola have shared relations since pre-independence times, when it supported the African country's liberation struggle.
Bilateral diplomatic cooperation dates back to 1985.
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