Luis Ayllón
The President of Angola, João Lourenço, will arrive in Spain next Sunday, 26th, for an official visit that will last until the 29th, according to The Diplomat, according to reliable sources.
Several of Lourenço’s days in Spain are of a private nature, and the official acts will take place mainly on Tuesday 28. On that date, the King and the Queen will offer a lunch at the Royal Palace to the Angolan leader, with the attendance of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and other members of his Cabinet, along with personalities from the business and political world.
On Tuesday, the Angolan President will visit the Moncloa Palace to meet Sánchez, whom he already knows, since the head of the Executive travelled to Luanda on 6 and 7 April, the first visit by a Spanish Prime Minister to the African country since Felipe González’s visit in 1992.
Sánchez travelled accompanied by a large group of businessmen and, during Lourenço’s visit to Madrid, some issues related to Spain’s business presence in Angola could be discussed.
Thus, according to the sources consulted, one of the Angolan president’s objectives would be to find financing in Spain for the construction in Luanda of an Ophthalmology Hospital directed by the prestigious team of Dr Fernández Vega, a project that would cost 150 million euros.
Another of the issues that could be discussed in Madrid is the functioning of the International University of Cuanza, a project of the Ibero-American University Foundation (Funiber), an institution based in Barcelona and located in the city of Cuito, in the province of Bié. The University will be inaugurated on 5 October by Lourenço and will open its doors, in the first phase, to 5,000 students.. Angola has so far authorised the development of eight of the seventeen degree courses that Funiber wishes to offer.
Angola, which has a commercial debt of some 100 million dollars with Spanish companies, has some disputes with Spain, in relation to the construction of two agricultural development stakes and the equipping of a Technological Observatory of Species, which could be unblocked during João Lourenço’s visit.
The Angolan leader is expected to take advantage of his stay in Spain to extend an invitation to the King to pay a state visit to Angola.
