Luanda — The minister of Youth and Sports, Manuel Gonçalves Muandunba, this Friday here said that the Angolan government's project of assistance to youths, dubbed "Angola Jovem", has been boosting the development of this age group.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the broad meeting on the "Angola Jovem (youth)" programme, promoted by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the official explained that to achieve this goal the Angolan government has been implementing various social projects and activities, such as the building of houses for youths, granting professional kits and bank loans for the class.

According to the minister, in the sports field, the main guidelines are focussed on the review of legal documents, training of agents, expansion of recreation sports, as well as the construction and rehabilitation of playgrounds.

According to a communiqué of the meeting, this year the "Youth Credit" project set up 972 youth cooperatives in 17 provinces, and trained 2,092 youths on how to set up and manage micro-firms.

Until this moment, the Savings and Savings Bank (BPC), which funds the project, granted USD five million, but only four million dollars were spent.

In terms of availability, Luanda was the province that benefited the most from the amount with USD 1.5 million, whilst Malanje and Bengo were the least beneficiaries with USD 100,000 each.

Concerning the utilisation, the provinces of Uíge and Kuando Kubango were the ones the used the full amount granted.

Benguela, Cabinda and Lunda Norte are the ones with a reasonable implementation rate.

The "Angola Jovem" programme is an initiative of the Angolan government whose implementation is being expanded gradually and progressively to various regions of the country.