The new chairman of AIPEX, the Angolan Private Investment and Export Promotion Agency, Arlindo das Chagas Rangel, stressed in statements to Lusa the importance of the "partnership declaration" signed today, namely in what helps to meet Angolan needs "in terms of training and identification of markets and opportunities". Rangel brought to Portugal the concerns of the Angolan Government with two fundamental sectors, energy - this Tuesday the AIPEX team will visit the industrial logistics port complex of Sines - and food security. "Food security is a vast sector, requiring infrastructure, logistics, and [above all] production, and we will focus on this sector", he announced to Lusa. "We are in a process of opening up, of making ourselves known and, with the support and help of AICEP, trying to use the [Portuguese agency's] channels to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in Angola", he added. Filipe Santos Costa, chairman of AICEP, the Portuguese Trade and Investment Agency, stressed the importance of the partnership in "three main areas of cooperation" - generic training of the Angolan counterpart as an investment and foreign trade agency focused on attracting investment; and also in the organization of business missions to attract this investment; and finally in the information supporting the internationalization of companies. "The agreement reflects the interconnection between the two economies, because Angola is a very important non-European market for Portugal (...) due to the huge number of Portuguese companies that are committed to the Angolan market", stressed Santos Costa. The AICEP leader highlighted the importance of "opening up the territory" by Angola, materialized in the Angolan Government's commitment to infrastructure development, namely water and electricity networks. "Taking advantage of opportunities and developing public or private investments in transport infrastructure, in utility networks, are certainly investments with a return", stressed Santos Costa. The Portuguese manager also highlighted the Angolan agri-food sector as a "focus" of attention, not only because of the investment opportunities in agriculture itself, but also "in logistics, supply networks, in agribusiness, and in a real development of the entire agri-food sector" - which is also one of our Portuguese priorities. Angola, in turn, and in the words of Arlindo Rangel, expressed in Lisbon "its total availability" for the partnership signed today "to constitute a solid basis for a new and exemplary model of cooperation, innovation and success between both parties". "Together, we can face future challenges and transform opportunities into tangible achievements that will benefit our business communities and our countries", said the AIPEX chairman. The signing of the partnership, integrated into a set of actions that are taking place today and Tuesday, culminates in an "action of dialogue" between the two counterpart institutions, which included a workshop in Luanda in mid-April, the online training of 20 AIPEX technicians and managers by the AICEP Academy, the preparation of a study on the Portuguese and Angolan experiences in promoting exports and attracting investment and the creation of a guide to good practices for business missions. The action was supported by the European Union, with funding from the European Development Fund, within the framework of strengthening the dialogue on public policies between the 27 and Angola in the area of economic growth, sustainable development and support for the African country's economic diversification effort. Read Also: João Lourenço concerned about instability in the DRC and Mozambique (Portuguese version)