Chinese investment in Angola has more than doubled since 2020, with an
improvement in trade as well, reflecting a “consistent” relationship that will be
revitalized with the visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister to the country.

In an interview with Lusa news agency, on the day that Angola and China celebrate 40 years of
diplomatic relations, the president of the Angola-China Chamber of Commerce (CAC), Luís
Cupenala, considered that relations between the two countries were established for mutual benefit
and they have been consistent.
The event coincides with the arrival of the Chinese Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, to Angola, a country
on his itinerary of visits to Africa.
Cupenala described 2022 as a “good year” in terms of trade partnerships, with exchanges between
the two countries reaching around 23 billion dollars by October, while the flow of Chinese private
investment more than doubled between 2020 and 2022, going from 125 million dollars in 2020 to
295 million dollars last year.
Investment stock stood at 24 billion dollars, including the oil sector.
“Improvement is constant, despite the difficulties the world is experiencing”, stressed the
businessman, highlighting the dynamics of the private sector, with Chinese companies in key
sectors of the Angolan economy, which should not undergo significant changes, despite the
international situation and the uncertainties about covid-19.
“In 2020, we did not know [the disease], the answers that were found to deal with the matter were
very complex”, he admitted, adding that today there is more “maturity” in the way the pandemic is
faced, adopting “measures palliative measures to mitigate the risk”.
Regarding the Qin Gang’s visit to Luanda, he said that it expresses China’s positioning in the world,
in Africa and in Angola, “a strategic partner of China”, being “a way of revitalizing the relations that
China wants to build with Africa” and, in the case of Angola, a milestone of the 40th anniversary of
relations between the two countries that demands a “permanent dialogue”.
“I think this visit will allow revisiting the cooperation agenda, improving points of view and changing
the cooperation framework in some points”, helping to reflect on the benefits of a relationship over
four decades and adding value to processes of Angola’s diversification and industrialization, he
said.
All this needs a concerted agenda, he noted, adding that the Chinese experience should be used to
transform Angola “into a prosperous country where each citizen, according to his potential, can
make his achievements.
The businessman stressed that Angola needs “sound cooperation” with countries that bring
financial resources and human capital, ‘know-how’ and technology, to transform its resources into
goods and services, and rejects imbalances in China’s relationship with countries Africans.
“Each country has its own vision” and African countries are “sovereign and choose the relationships
that most benefit their countries”, said the leader of the CAC, adding that in a world of “a lot of
competition” messages are used to create “a state psychological” unfavorable or favorable to
certain countries.
“They are jealousy. The world has many ‘players’ and Africa is a continent with many riches”, he
commented.
“I don’t think that independent countries, with sovereignty, with very well-structured visions, feel
colonized by other countries. Contracts are defined, negotiated in proportion to common benefits,”
he said.
Furthermore, the lack of transparency in the content of contracts is not a problem for the Chinese,
but for African leaders, “who need to be very patriotic and love their countries”.