Menongue - The Minister of Culture and Tourism, Filipe Zau, said on Wednesday, in Menongue, that the Angolan region of Okavango will become in a showcase of sustainability in Africa and for the world, through tourism driven by national and foreign investments.
The minister made this statement at the end of the first phase of the 1st Investors' Forum in the Angolan Okavango Region, which takes place from the 17th to the 22nd of this month, in the city of Menongue, capital of Cuando Cubango province, which is gathering national and foreign investors and entrepreneurs.
Filipe Zau stated that the Angolan Okavango Region is a treasure that is ready to be discovered and explored in an ecological way, which will become an extensive 'showcase' of sustainability for Africa and for the world.
The minister hopes that participants have had opportunities to identify solid partnerships aimed at the development of the region and that can benefit investors and the national economy, with the creation of new jobs and local communities, within the scope of its responsibility and respect for sustainability.
According to the head of the Culture and Tourism sector, it is crucial to highlight that each project to be implemented in the Okavango region has the potential to generate financial returns and leave a positive and lasting impact on the lives of local communities in the Angolan component and on the preservation of this natural treasure of Angola.
“It is imperative that, when moving forward with the project, one bears in mind the importance of creating businesses that respect cultural values, that promote social inclusion and adopt sustainable practices, in the spirit of adaptation and management of change that at a planetary level it operates in an increasingly accelerated, but no less ecological, way”, he argued.
He said that Angolan Okavango Region represents a vast territory full of potential, which extends throughout its enormous biodiversity, characterized by stunning landscapes and cultural diversity.
For Filipe Zau, these potentials open up space for good business opportunities, which is why it is necessary for there to be visionary investors specialized in caravanning, camping, ecotourism and other types of nature tourism, without losing sight of the development of infrastructures. and services aimed at different types of ecological tourism and scientific research.
The minister expects close collaboration from all national and foreign partners, whether or not linked to the private sector, non-governmental organizations and local communities, for the implementation in the region of projects aimed at the conscious exploitation of natural resources and the promotion of responsibility social and cooperative.
On the occasion, he highlighted the approval of the National Tourism Plan for 2024/2027, aimed at creating infrastructure to support tourism at national level, reiterating the Executive's commitment to promoting ecological and sustainable tourism in the Okavango Transborder Zone -Zambezi, for the conservation of biodiversity and socio-cultural well-being of local communities.
It should be noted that, from today until the 22nd of the current month, national and foreign investors from Namibia, Portugal, Zambia and Botswana are exploring, through an overland expedition, the tourist potential of Cuando Cubango, through the municipalities of Cuangar, Calai, Dirico and Rivungo, bordering Namibia in the south. ALK/FF/PLB/DOJ
