Luanda — A group of three French businesspeople Wednesday, in Luanda, expressed interest in extending their investments and increasing the number of companies operating in the farming industry in the country, aiming to support the process of increasing food production in Angola.
These are investors from CFCAI Group, a multinational company specialising in drying grains, COOPEX which is specialising in cattle genetics and IDENA, one of the biggest companies producing animal feed and supplements, who unanimously considered Angola to be a good country to invest, given its potential and the favourable business environment.
The mentioned businesspeople, who are in the country as part of an announced visit to Angola by French Presiden Emmanuel Macron, expressed their intention, this Thursday, during a meeting in Luanda with the secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock, João Bartolomeu da Cunha.
Speaking to the press, the director general of COOPEX, Tristan Gaiffe, informed that his company plans to develop a project to breed "Montbéliarde" cattle in Angola, in order to boost the manufacturing process and transformation of milk in the country.
According to the manager, for the first phase of implementation of this project, the company plans to bring 165 heads of cattle to the country this year to test their adaptation in Angola, adding that the Montbéliarde breed has a good capacity to adapt to the climatic conditions of many African countries, with potential in milk production.
The commercial director for Africa of IDENA, Damien Beacco, is another person who has shown interest in boosting investment in Angola, being that his company already operates in Angola in the monogastric sector.
He said the meeting held with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was satisfactory, as it provided information about Angola´s potential and business opportunities in the farming sector.
Regarding the French President's visit to the country, the businessman said that it would serve to boost the presence of more companies in Angola and vice-versa.
The secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock, João Bartolomeu da Cunha, said that the audience granted to the French businesspeople served to exchange ideas related to agricultural and agribusiness production in the country.
He noted that materialisation of the intentions shown by the businesspeople would bring enormous benefits, mainly in terms of obtaining knowledge and cutting-edge technology for agriculture and farming, as well as increasing production of foodstuffs that the country still produces in small quantities.
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He added that another advantage would also be to increase storage capacity for products and give greater quality to cereals, which would considerably reduce losses after harvest.
For that purpose, he appealed to entrepreneurs to set up their industrial units in Angola, for local transformation of the raw materials that the country has.
In addition to the investment plans of those businesspeople, 60 French companies are already operating in Angola, in several social and economic sectors of the country, which has made it possible to create over 10,000 jobs, according to the French-Angolan Business Club (CEFA).
Bilateral cooperation between Angola and France dates back to 1982 and this is the fourth time that a French President visits Angola. The last visit of a French statesman to Angola happened in July 2015, by the former President François Hollande.
Meanwhile, the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, visited France in May 2018.
