Luanda — Chief of Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) Gen. Altino dos Santos Thursday suggested the creation of the National Maritime High Authority (AAMN) to facilitate the coordination of actions in favour of national interest.
General Altino dos Santos stressed the importance of AAMN at the conference on "national and regional maritime security, ahead of 47 anniversary of the Angolan Navy (MGA), scheduled for July 10.
Addressing the event, under the topic: perspectives in the face of new threats",
the General Altino dos Santos said the creation of AAMN will ensure safety and control of navigation, preservation of natural resources.
The move will also ensure protection of underwater cultural heritage as well as the marine environment and prevention and combat of pollution.
He hopes that the body will also have, among its responsibilities, maritime signaling and navigational aids, inspection of the economic use of resources, protection of mangroves, maritime rescue and on the coastline and public health, as well as the fight against drug trafficking, terrorism, piracy and illegal migration.
The FAA Chief of General Staff assured that the Navy is in better conditions to carry out its role of defending the maritime space from any aggression.
He stated that it is prepared, in coordination with the other branches of the FAA, to ensure that there is a blue, clean, safe sea, with plenty of food and wealth for the people and a leverage factor for the national economy.
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He said that MGA can be proud that, in addition to the new ships and those that will gradually arrive in the country, a significant part of the works of expansion and modernisation of the naval base of Soyo, the largest in infrastructure of the branch, since the National Independence, will be concluded.
He defended a permanent inspection of the oceans to avoid shortages of fish products and less income for the national economy.
The General stressed that unreported and unregulated illegal fishing constitutes a serious threat to economic sovereignty and to the population, and therefore must be fought.
General Altino dos Santos advocated the need to publicise, from an early age, the Angolan maritime potential among national citizens, regarding leisure capacity, clean beaches, blue waters, water sports, the need to preserve the environment, and its economic advantages.
The Chief of Staff praised the country's efforts towards the decarbonisation of the environment, the reconstitution of the coastal ecosystem, with the massive planting of mangroves, important for capturing carbon and releasing oxygen, as well as being a place for the reproduction of species.
In his speech on "operational perspectives on maritime security", the commander of the Angolan Navy (MGA), Admiral Valentim António, considered international cooperation essential to guarantee the safety and protection of the seas.
In turn, the Admiral Valentim António pointed out as the main challenges the fight against piracy and smuggling of human beings, drugs and weapons to guarantee the safety of the seas and avoid negative repercussions on the economies of the States.
JFS/OHA/NIC
