Benguela – Cape Verde's ambassador to Angola, Júlio César Freire de Morais, on Saturday expressed his country's interest in resuming direct flights between the cities of Praia and Luanda, suspended since 2017 due to lack of profitability.
The ambassador made the statement in the city of Benguela while speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with the Cape Verdean community in Angola’s Benguela province.
In an interview with ANGOP, Júlio Morais said that the reestablishment of the direct flight between Angola and Cape Verde should be a priority, with a view to boosting commercial relations.
The diplomat recalled that direct flights between the cities of Praia and Luanda have been interrupted by the Angolan airline TAAG since November 2017, but guarantees that the two parties are working to relaunch this partnership.
According to the official, at the moment, TVC, Cape Verde's national company, is renting some planes from TAAG, as part of boosting relations between the two countries.
He also recalled that the two flag companies have even signed an agreement for direct connection during the meeting of the Mixed Commission, which took place in Cape Verde, in March 2022.
It is in this context that Ambassador Júlio Morais states that work is being done to resume flights to Cape Verde, so that businesspeople begin to take advantage of opportunities in the areas of air, maritime transport, tourism and agribusiness.
“We are opening the avenues so that operators, companies and businesspeople can then start taking advantage of these opportunities that we are creating”, the diplomat assured.
Benguela will have honorary consulate
Furthermore, he also announced the elevation of Cape Verde's consular post in the province of Benguela to an honorary consulate, with a resident consul.
“We still cannot disclose who it is”, he stressed, admitting that the conditions are being created to better protect and treat the Cape Verdean community in Angola, and in particular in the province of Benguela.
Career ambassador, Júlio Morais considers, on the other hand, Cape Verde and Angola to be brotherly countries, as they are linked by long-standing ties, even before their independence from the then Portuguese colonial regime.
By the way, he recalled that Benguela was the first place where the first Cape Verdean communities emigrated to Angola settled, in the middle of the last century, after the hunger crisis of 1947 and 1948 in the archipelago.
These Cape Verdeans, he said, came to work as cheap work force for the sugar factories, especially in Benguela, Caxito, Bom Jesus, Algodoeira, Cabinda and on the sisal plantations.
Nationality attribution campaign
The ambassador of Cape Verde made it known that, currently, around 30,000 Cape Verdeans are registered in Angola, so a campaign is underway to grant nationality to first and second generations descendants.
And he recognizes that the process is having a huge turnout, especially at the consular post in Benguela.
“We are targeting almost two hundred thousand second-generation Cape Verdeans”, he stressed, expressing satisfaction with the way he was received by his country's community in Benguela, for the exchange of views.
After Luanda, Benguela is the second Angolan province with the highest concentration of Cape Verdeans.
JH/CRB/DOJ
