Luanda — Over 13 million kwanzas were applied in Angola, in the last 35 years, in projects developed in this country by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), informed last Wednesday, in Luanda, the secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ângela Bragança.

The secretary of State gave this datum to the press, in the end of a meeting with the Director-General of FAO, José Graziano da Silva, who is in Angola on a work visit.

According to Ângela Bragança, throughout the mentioned period over 200 projects were developed in Angola by FAO, in areas such as technical assistance, staff training, research activities, assistance in family agriculture, fisheries, among other domains.

She also emphasised that Angola has had several gains in the framework of this co-operation, having added that currently 20 projects are being implemented in various areas, mainly in the ambit of actions turned to the fight against hunger and poverty.

She revealed that the Angolan government counts on a great contribution, mainly in the field of technical assistance, elaboration and implementation of projects, in the framework of a close partnership between FAO and the Agriculture Ministry.

"FAO's office is part of the Consultative Council for Rural Development, there is a close collaboration and we take very positive benefits from that, in the ambit of the strategies of support to rural development", said the official.

For the coming years, she said, this partnership is expected to focus on food security and FAO reforms, among other actions.