Eduardo González
Angola’s new ambassador, Balbina Malheiros Dias da Silva, presented her credentials to the Director General of Protocol, Adrián Martín Couce, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, diplomatic sources told The Diplomat.
Balbina Malheiros Dias da Silva, born on February 27, 1959, in Luanda, joined her country’s diplomatic service in 1983, after which she served as diplomatic attaché in the Directorate for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She subsequently served as head of the North Africa and Middle East Department, head of the Central and Eastern Europe Division, minister for Southern Africa, and director of the main department for the Americas.
Malheiros Dias da Silva served as ambassador to Zambia from 2012 to 2019, and on October 24, 2019, she became the first woman to serve as Angola’s ambassador to Germany. Balbina Malheiros Dias da Silva speaks Portuguese, French, English, and Spanish and is married.
Spain and Angola established diplomatic relations on October 19, 1977. Almost ten years later, on May 20, 1987, the General Cooperation Agreement between the two countries was signed in Luanda, establishing a Joint Cooperation Commission.
In December 2012, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel García-Margallo, accompanied by the then Minister of Public Works, Ana Pastor, made the first ministerial visit to Angola since 2007, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 25th anniversary of bilateral development cooperation. During that visit, a Memorandum of Understanding on Bilateral Consultations was signed.
In April 2021, Pedro Sánchez made the first visit by a Spanish Prime Minister to Angola, during which an Air Transport Agreement and three Memoranda of Understanding on Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture Cooperation, and Industrial Policy were signed. In September of that same year, President João Lourenço made an official visit to Spain, during which he invited Felipe VI to make a state visit to Angola, which ultimately took place between February 6 and 8, 2023. This was King Felipe VI’s first trip to a country in sub-Saharan Africa.