Luanda — Angola and China signed an agreement Wednesday to provide 249 million US dollars funding to support the Southern African country broadband project implementation.
The agreement for China's Concessional Loan to Angola was signed by the Finance minister, Vera Daves, and the Chinese ambassador to Angola, Gong Tao.
The Angolan Finance minister said the loan was made available by the China Export Import Bank (EXIMBANK), without oil collateral, and is in line with the strategy adopted by the government for debt and public debt management, with the aim to secure its sustainability.
The minister added that the signing of the agreement was significant, as it was of particular importance to Angola, since it demonstrates the strength of the political, economic and financial cooperation relations between the two countries.
Due to the agreement's characteristics, the minister said, it will contribute to further development of friendly relations and promote economic and technical cooperation between the two countries.
Vera Daves underlined the fact that it is a Framework Agreement for Concessional Loans, with more favourable conditions for Angola than the market conditions.
The agreement has a maturity period of up to 20 years and no associated collateral obligations, which for the Finance minister shows confidence and willingness of the People's Republic of China to support Angola's development.
China's ambassador on his turn, stressed his country's willingness to continue to support Angola in telecommunications, improvement of the Digital service and Digital Transformation, economic areas and other sectors of the society.
Pascoal Fernandes, secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Technology, said the funding will bring gains and lead to improved quality of communication services provided to the population in various provinces of the country.
The National Broadband Network is an infrastructure that allows huge scale gains for the national economy, favouring technological innovation and boosting productivity in several services, whether public or private.
