The Diplomat
The current secretary general of the Angolan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alfredo Dombe, will be the new Angolan ambassador to Spain, The Diplomat has learned.
Dombe already knows Spain, as he was stationed in Madrid some ten years ago, where he was the ‘number two’ in the Embassy, after having been Angola’s Chargé d’Affaires in South Korea.
Subsequently, the future ambassador to Spain was director general of the Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales ‘Venancio de Moura’, before being appointed secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with functions similar to those of undersecretary in the Spanish Ministry.
Alfredo Dombe will replace José Luis de Matos Agostinho in the post, although this will not take place until the King and Queen’s announced state visit to Angola, scheduled for 6-8 February.
Since his arrival in Spain in June 2018, José Luis de Matos and his team at the Embassy have been intensely active in preparing the exchange of high-level visits between the two countries, which has increased significantly in recent years. In April 2021, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, paid an official visit to Angola, and in September of the same year, the President of Angola, Joao Lourenço, visited Spain. Don Felipe and Doña Letizia’s trip next week will be a return visit.
In addition, in June last year, the state-owned TAAG Angola Airlines inaugurated its new Luanda-Madrid-Luanda route, which favours commercial and tourism exchanges. This is an operation within the framework of the code-sharing and interline agreement with Iberia, which allows passengers of the Angolan airline to connect their flights from Africa, via Madrid, with Iberia’s network in Europe, Latin America and North America, reaching 134 destinations in 43 countries. The agreement also allows passengers arriving from Iberia’s network to connect with the network of its Angolan partner in Africa.
