Day: May 20, 2021

Luanda – The discussion of a Proposal for the Recovery of School Retardment in Regular Education is one of the themes in focus at the III Consultative Council of the Ministry of Education, which is being held under the slogan “Teachers leading and promoting changes in times of crisis”.

According to the Minister of Education, Luísa Grilo, when opening the event, the idea is to find strategies and measures that lead to the recovery of lost learning time, while schools were closed, perhaps in a shorter school term, in order to correct the age/class gap and the flow of students in the school circuit, one of the consequences of Covid-19.

The program should not be confused with the Youth and Adult Education Plan, also of relevant importance, but which serves young people from 15 years who have not had access to education at the right age and time, and / or for various reasons have abandoned school.

She also highlighted attention for reflection on the “National Reading Plan”, which aims to facilitate access to bibliographic consultation, promoting the enjoyment and habit of reading and writing among students and the school community in general.

“We know the importance of reading for school children, since the deficit or lack of it interferes with learning by posing difficulties in the understanding and comprehension of the various subjects of the curriculum,” she stressed.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The National Assembly (Angolan Parliament) elected, this Thursday, lawyer Florbela Araújo as ombudswoman, replacing Carlos Alberto Ferreira Pinto, who was in the position since January 2020.

The election of Florbela Araújo took place during the 8th Ordinary Plenary Meeting of the 4th Legislative Session of the IV Legislature of the National Assembly, led by the Speaker of this sovereign body, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos.

The new ombudswoman was elected with 154 votes in favour, one against and no abstentions.

Florbela Araújo was proposed by the MPLA parliamentary group, in accordance with the principle of proportional representation.

Carlos Alberto Ferreira Pinto recently sent his resignation letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, citing personal reasons.

Profile

The lawyer Florbela Araújo was responsible for the preparation of the sessions of the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers (CM).

In 1997, when the General-Secretariat for Support Issues to the Presidency of the Republic was formed, she was transferred to the Civil House where she performed the functions of Cabinet Director.

She then worked in the legal advisory office of the Presidency Civil House, as an assistant, and in February 2007, she took over from the then Legal Advisor Carlos dos Santos Teixeira.

With the statutory configuration of the bodies supporting the President of the Republic, she would be reconfirmed in the position of Secretary for Legal and Judicial Affairs of the President of the Republic.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The Angolan government is drawing up the Annual National Development Plan (PADN-2022) with the actions to be carried out, targets and objectives for next year, the Secretary of State for Planning, Milton Reis said today in Luanda.

He noted that the preparation of PADN-2022 was in its initial phase, and that the schedule for its preparation, as well as the paradigm for the presentation of projects and activities to support development, had been presented to the Technical Bodies of the National Planning System.

Speaking at the weekly briefing of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP), he recalled that the PADN-2022 has in view the materialization of the goals established in all the actions of the National Development Plan (PDN 2018-2022) and constitutes the programmatic basis for the General State Budget 2022.

On the other hand, he highlighted Angola’s participation in the preparation of the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) for the period 2020-2030.

The Government official made it known that under the Reimbursable Advisory Services (RAS) of Support to the Reform of Public Enterprises (PEs), Privatisation and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), the World Bank mission to Angola is taking place from 19 to 28 May.

He detailed that the crosscutting objective of this mission is to address the activities carried out within the framework of this project, taking into consideration the current priorities, the evolution of reforms implemented by the Angolan government, and the next steps until the closure of the project in July, 2022.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – President João Lourenço arrived Thursday evening in Luanda from Paris (France), where he attended the Summit on the Financing of African Economies.

On arrival at Luanda’s 4 de Fevereiro International Airport, João Lourenço, accompanied by the First Lady, Ana Dias Lourenço, received welcoming greetings from the Vice-president Bornito de Sousa, from government members and Presidency officials.

The Paris Summit that gathered a dozen of African and European leaders and representatives of international political and financial organisations, approved a Usd 33 million fund aid for African countries.

During the meeting organised by the French Government, Angola defended a change to the Covid-19 vaccine production strategy.

On the fringes of the Summit, President João Lourenço met with his counterparts from France, Emmanuel Macron, South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the Portuguese prime minister, António Costa.

João Lourenço also met with Tony Blair, head of the Institute for Global Change, the former UK prime minister, and with various French business people, with whom he discussed the foreign investments in Angola, as part of the reforms underway in the country.

This is the second time President João Lourenço visits France, in his capacity as Angolan Head of State. The first was in May 2018.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Moçâmedes – The governor of sout-west Namibe province, Archer Mangueira, today, Thursday, requested the collaboration of civil society in combating the plague of locusts that is affecting the province, with technical and human means.

Speaking at a meeting with municipal administrators, farmers and members of civil society, which served to address the issue, he said that communities should help in the rapid identification of hotspots for immediate combat.

He asked civil society to collaborate in the acquisition of sprayers, fumigation vans and volunteers to help the teams on the ground.

“If we are not effective in this fight, we are going to live a situation of widespread hunger,” the governor warned, looking at the trail of destruction left by the locusts in the fields of farming families.

Despite recognising the good collaboration of community agents and traditional authorities, he considered it was still not enough to contain the insects.

The plague of locusts is affecting the municipalities of Moçâmedes, Bibala, Tômbwa and Virei, the latter being the most critical, where the insects have already devastated five hectares of farmland.

In Moçâmedes 42 devastated fields were counted so far.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – A court in New York said it had no powers to decide on the case filed by Aenergy SA against the Angolan government and referred the case to the Angolan justice system, according to the US press.

The case is a lawsuit brought in the US by the company Aenergy, in a case about the supply of General Electric’s electric turbines, whose contract was cancelled by the Angolan government.

In the ruling, issued Wednesday, the judge in the case, John P. Cronan, gave the parties 30 days to present an agreement, in which they submit to Angolan jurisdiction to settle the dispute that dates back to 2019.

Cronan noted that the federal jurisdiction in New York “does not have jurisdiction” to deal with the case and that the Angolan justice system “is the appropriate forum” to decide on the case, which relates to alleged contract fraud worth USD 1.1 billion.

With this decision, the New York court welcomed the request presented by the Angolan government, in September 2020, for the case to be referred to arbitration, arguing that the parties were bound by arbitration clauses.

The US district judge argued that when Aenergy SA and its subsidiary conducted their business, in Angola, with the Angolan government, they decided to “subject themselves to the Angolan law”.

The business relationship between Aenergy and the Angolan government began, in 2017, when the energy company was contracted to build and operate several power plants.

Source: Angola Press News Agency