Angola’s President Joao Lourenço said that Africa should play an important role in the energy order that is being created as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We are counting on the world economy, and as we are counting, we believe that Africa can also be part of the solution to serious current problems, such as problems related to energy production,” the Angolan head of state said on Monday, December 13. in Washington, during a debate in the US Congress hosted by Eximbank, the US Import and Export Bank, as part of the US-Africa Summit.
The Angolan leader said that Africa is “the continent of the present.” “We have a lot of wasted sun in Africa that is very little used for the beach, but more needs to be done to harness this natural advantage to produce abundant energy,” he stressed.
One of the goals of this action is to attract investments. Therefore, at a meeting that brought together big financiers, businessmen and top managers, Joao Lourenço defended that “Africa matters to the world economy” and that “the inclusion of the continent in the G 20 is a matter of justice”, as he defended. recently Joe Biden, President of the United States.
João Lourenço has also not shied away from the theme of corruption, the elephant that appears in the room whenever it comes to investing in the African continent. The Angolan leader said that fighting corruption is a matter of national security, explaining that “when resources that belong to everyone end up going into the pockets of a few, damaging public investment in infrastructure, social facilities such as hospitals, roads, etc., bridges, schools, this leads to popular discontent, uprisings, coups d’etat and other disasters and risks that threaten the stability of the country.”
The head of state insisted on emphasizing that the phenomenon of corruption “is everywhere, it is inherent in the dynamics of a market economy, but it should always happen that impunity is unacceptable, the seizure of state resources that belong to everyone and no one.” Sometimes it’s bad,” he concluded.
