Luanda — The Republic of Angola will draw on the experience of Egypt for the construction of hydraulic infrastructures, to reduce the effects of drought in the country's southern region.
These are the regions which are cyclically affected by drought, with emphasis on the provinces of Cuando Cubango, Cunene, Huila, and Benguela.
According to the Angolan minister of Energy and Waters, João Baptista Borges - who on behalf of the Angolan government, signed Wednesday the Memorandum of Understanding with the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, for technical assistance on groundwater - stated that the Arab country has experience in this field of engineering construction works related to hydraulic infrastructure.
The Egyptian Foreign minister, on behalf of his country, signed the document.
As an example, João Baptista Borges recalled that Egypt's only water resource is the Nile River, but it practices irrigation agriculture and has a successful water supply system, and added that, taking into account that Angola and Egypt already cooperate in the electric domain, in what concerns training and execution of works, the Memorandum of Understanding will reinforce cooperation.
He said that Angola decided to invest in hydraulic works for water supply by seeking Egyptian experience in the construction of infrastructures, in addition to the training and transfer of knowledge to Angolan technicians.
"We are expanding the water supply infrastructure, not only in the cities but in building infrastructure to fight drought," he said.
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The minister considers it essential that Angolan technicians be trained and revealed that, according to the signed memorandum, Egypt will provide technical support.
According to the official, the national technicians have already participated in training actions that Egypt has been carrying out, by sending technicians to the Arab country.
"Basically, this Memorandum seals the commitment that is already in place today", he stressed, clarifying that the intention is to expand to the area of construction of hydraulic infrastructure, bringing the knowledge of Egyptian companies.
He informed that Angola has a programme to combat the effects of drought and that this can be better solved by taking advantage of the experience of Egypt, which faces similar problems to the country.
The agreement will cover the southern part of the country, with the use of underground and surface water.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding was witnessed by the Head of State, João Lourenço, and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who visited the country for 48 hours as part of a tour of some African countries.
The political and diplomatic cooperation and friendship relations between Angola and Egypt were formalized on February 18, 1976. Since then, relations have always been characterized as excellent, with a high level of consultation on bilateral and multilateral issues. NE/AC/MRA/jmc
