Meeting with President of Angola Joao Lourenco
Vladimir Putin had a meeting with President of Angola Joao Lourenco on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, colleagues, friends,
I am very happy to see you and very pleased to meet with you, Mr President.
Russia and Angola have longstanding and friendly relations that we greatly treasure. We are actively cooperating in political matters, security, and at international organisations.
We thank you, Mr President, for supporting Russian initiatives at the United Nations Organisation.
Our trade is quite modest so far, but in general, we have good projects that can be implemented. Our military and technical cooperation is also developing.
I am very glad we have an opportunity to discuss all these matters with you.
President of Angola Joao Lourenco (retranslated): Thank you, Mr President.
First of all, I would like to introduce the members of my delegation. (Introductions follow.)
Mr President, please let me congratulate you on the high level at which the recent FIFA World Cup was held in Russia, personally and on behalf of the Angolan people. I believe this is the best answer to everyone who wanted to sabotage the games, which, in fact, are a symbol of friendship between our peoples, the purpose of which is to strengthen relations between countries.
Mr President, we are interested in strengthening the friendship and cooperation of Russia and Angola, the relations that bind our countries. It should be noted that the relationship goes back a long way, beginning in the Soviet era. During the Cold War, Russia always supported the Angolan people and helped us achieve what we now treasure most of all: our independence.
Back then, many saw us as terrorists and you were one of the few who saw us as people who had the right to fight for their independence.
Even after we won our independence, which we have been enjoying for 42 years, Russia never turned its back on Angola; it always supported us and helped us fight the apartheid regime, which was a threat to Angola and the entire African continent.
Rest assured that the people of Angola will never forget the friendship between our countries that was forged in battle.
We also know that some Russian citizens lost their lives fighting for Angola's independence. But there has been sustainable peace in Angola for 16 years, and now our agenda has changed. It is different from the one we had before. Now we are focused on development. We want our country to develop in all areas.
Speaking about economic cooperation, we are counting on interaction with Russia. First of all, Russian enterprises work in our mining complex. But we would also like Russian businesses to be represented in other industries.
Visit to South Africa. BRICS Summit
July 26 − 27, 2018
Publication date: July 26, 2018, 19:45
http://en.kremlin.ru/catalog/countries/AO/events/58109
Last updated at July 27, 2018, 19:19