The Diplomat
Don Felipe and Doña Letizia arrived yesterday in Angola on the occasion of the State visit they will make between today and tomorrow to this African country, which will serve “to highlight and strengthen the ties and bilateral relations between the two countries,” according to the Royal House.
The King and Queen, who are traveling accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the State Secretary for Trade, Xiana Méndez, were seen off with honors from the State Pavilion of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas Airport and arrived late in the afternoon at the Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda.
The State visit to Luanda will take place between February 7 and 8. It is the first State visit of a King and Queen of Spain to this country since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1977 and it is the first State trip to Sub-Saharan Africa of the current King and Queen. The President of Angola, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, and his wife, Ana Afonso Dias Lourenço, paid a state visit to Spain in September 2021 in which they invited Felipe VI to visit their country.
Today’s visit will begin at the Presidential Palace, where they will be officially received by the President and the First Lady. Also, Felipe VI and Lourenço will hold a working meeting and attend the signing of three Memoranda of Understanding on Smart Industry, Sports Cooperation and Cooperation between Diplomatic Schools. Meanwhile, the Queen and the First Lady will hold a meeting on education issues and on the education initiatives of the Ngana Zanza Foundation, created by the President’s own wife.
This will be followed by an official luncheon, at which the two heads of state will deliver a few words. In the afternoon, the King and Queen will attend the presentation of the International University of Cuanz – promoted by the Ibero-American University Foundation (FUNIBER) – and the inauguration of Miro’s exhibition El Cántico del Sol y las Maravillas Acrostática, both events at the Economic Bank. The day will end with a reception by the King and Queen of Spain for the Spanish community in Angola, where there are slightly more than 500 registered Spaniards.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, the King and President Lourenço will inaugurate the Angola-Spain business meeting Together building the future. There are between 35 and 40 Spanish companies in Angola, mainly in the energy and infrastructure sectors. At the same time, Doña Letizia and the First Lady will visit the Lucrecia Paím Maternity Hospital to see the work being done there with newborns.
After these two events, the King and Queen will go to the Angolan National Assembly, where they will meet with the Speaker of the House, Carolina Cerqueira, and Felipe VI will deliver a speech to the Chamber. In the ten or so State visits that the King has made since his accession to the throne, he has only had the honor of addressing the National Assemblies in France and Portugal. At noon the official farewell will take place at the Presidential Palace, after which the King and Queen will return to Spain.
