HM The Sultan, President of Angola grace exchange of agreements

Luanda— His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik and President João Manuel Lourenço of the Republic of Angola, graced today at the Presidential Palace in the Angolan capital, Luanda, the exchange of a number of agreements between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Angola.

Within the context of His Majesty’s state visit, the two countries signed 5 agreements, 8 memoranda of understanding and an executive programme covering a number of political, economic and investment fields.

The agreements included mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic, special, and service passports; technical cooperation between the governments of the two countries; the elimination of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance, air transport and heads of terms agreement in the logistics services and defence industries sector in the Republic of Angola.

Meanwhile, the memoranda of understanding covered political consultations and training, investment promotion, agriculture and livestock, a memorandum of understanding between Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Angola Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the field of energy concerning potential partnership in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors in the Republic of Angola, the field of renewable energy for the development of a 500-megawatt project equipped with a battery energy storage system (BESS), under the independent power producer (IPP) model in the Republic of Angola and a non-binding memorandum of understanding concerning potential cooperation in oilfield services and technologies.

The two countries also signed an executive programme for the technical cooperation and a contract for the rehabilitation, upgrading, and expansion of the water distribution network in Luanda Province.

The agreements, memoranda of understanding and executive program were signed from the Omani side by Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, Foreign Minister; Anwar bin Hilal Al Jabri, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion; Abdullah bin Nasser Al Rahbi, Non-Resident Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to the Republic of Angola; Ashraf bin Hamad Al Maamari, Chief Executive Officer of OQ; Qais bin Saud Al Zakwani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Maabar Investment Company and Khalid bin Sultan Al Junaibi, Chief Executive Officer of Desert Sand Oil and Gas Company.

Meanwhile, they were signed on behalf of the Angolan side by Téte António, Minister of External Relations; Isaac Francisco Maria dos Anjos, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry; João Baptista Borges, Minister of Energy and Water; Vicente Francisco Soares, President of Angola Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Luís Manuel da Fonseca, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SIMPORTEX; Solange Nadine Galamba Joyce, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Public Water Company (EPAL); Feliciano António Catiolo, Executive Director of the Public Water Company (EPAL) and Sebastião Gaspar Martins, Chief Executive Officer of Sonangol.