Portugal and Angola renew their strategic cooperation and extend it to the space sector
The recent official visit to Angola by the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, has served to renew and strengthen until 2027 the Strategic Cooperation Programme signed by both parties in 2018, while expanding Lisbon's package of areas of cooperation with the government of its former colony, which since September 2017 has been under the presidency of João Lourenço.
Antonio Costa's second official visit to Angola in the last five years, the Portuguese premier was in Luanda, the capital, accompanied by several of his ministers and senior government officials interested in consolidating existing relations, and an entourage of Portuguese businessmen seeking to increase their investments in the African country.
One of the new areas of collaboration on which the two countries have placed particular emphasis is space. It has taken the form of a framework agreement in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that lays the foundations for Portuguese-Angolan relations in the peaceful use of outer space.
The MoU was signed by the president of the Portuguese Space Agency, Ricardo Conde, and the director general of the Management Office of the Angolan National Space Programme (GGPEN), Zolana Rui João, an organisation established in 2010 that acts as a space agency and is attached to the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication.
Training Angolan space technicians
The agreement is valid for five years, renewable for five more, and creates a bilateral Technical Commission to promote cooperation in space matters, identify areas of collaboration, approve a plan of activities and ensure its monitoring and implementation.
The focus of the MoU is to promote the exchange of information between the two nations, with a view to training Angolan technicians in the use of space-derived technologies and applications. The agreement pays special attention to academic and scientific activities linked to Earth observation, in an attempt to take advantage of the African nation's natural resources in the process of accelerating its socio-economic development.
To achieve this, Portugal has extended the credit line opened in 2018 to the Luanda government from €1.5 billion to €2 billion. One of the immediate consequences is that Lisbon will double the number of scholarships from 2024 and increase the value of each scholarship by 30%. The aim is to encourage young Angolan students and teachers to pursue their bachelor's, master's or doctoral studies in Portuguese universities.
The initiative includes the organisation of conferences, seminars and specialised workshops, as well as the implementation of initiatives to provide policy makers, the media and the Angolan population with a better understanding of the benefits derived from the use of space technologies.
President João Lourenço's move to strengthen its ties with Lisbon is an attempt to rebalance its close space links with Paris and Moscow. Airbus Space Systems France is in the process of manufacturing its Angeo-1 observation satellite for civil and military use, while the Russian company Reshetnev was the prime contractor for the Angosat-2 state communications satellite, launched on 12 October from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
A similar agreement between Portugal and Brazil
In the absence of a space ecosystem comparable to the Russian, French or even Spanish ecosystems, Portuguese scientists and entrepreneurs will be working to train Angolan technicians. The aim is to intensify the use of satellite imagery for urban planning, the development of mining and water resources, land and maritime surveillance, and forestry and environmental monitoring.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa said he wants official institutions and Portuguese companies to "accompany" the diversification of the Angolan economy to contribute to the nation's development in line with President João Lourenço's ambitions.
The establishment of Angola's privileged space relationship with Portugal is implicitly contemplated in Angola's National Space Strategy 2016-2025, which lays the foundations for its cooperation with third countries. One of the lines of action of the aforementioned Strategy seeks to "improve" Angola's international position "through collaboration with specialised organisations and entities", such as the Portuguese Space Agency.
The agreement that Portugal and Angola have just formalised is part of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries and has a recent precedent. Costa's government signed a similar MoU with Brazil, South America's leading space power, at the end of April.
It was on the occasion of President Lula da Silva's tour of several nations - including Spain and Portugal - after taking office. The document was signed by the Ministers of Science and Technology of Portugal and Brazil, Elvira Fortunato and Luciana Santos, respectively, in order to make the most of the synergies existing between the two states on their common border, which is the Atlantic Ocean.