Addis Ababa – The Republic of Chile on Monday requested the support of Angola for its candidacy to be a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the period 2023-2025, whose election is due to take place in October this year in New York during the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.
The support was requested during an audience that the Angolan ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union (AU), Francisco José da Cruz, granted to the Secretary General for Foreign Policy of the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry, Alex Wetzig.
The Chilean diplomat, who was accompanied by his country’s ambassador accredited in Addis Ababa, Fernando Zalaquett Sepúlveda, said that if elected, his country’s mandate would be marked by a special attention to customary rights, housing and assistance to the victims of climate change, issues that are directly associated with the African reality.
Angola and Chile have bilateral relations based on a General Cooperation Agreement that was reinforced in 2014, during the visit to Luanda of the then Chilean president, Michelle Bachelett.
At the time, he discussed with the Angolan authorities the bases of a common action plan that was signed in September 2014 by the foreign ministers of the two countries.
The action plan covers several areas of cooperation, including agriculture, infrastructure, energy, higher education, maritime security and defence.
As part of the materialisation of the said joint action plan, the International Cooperation Agency of Chile (ACIC) has been offering scholarships to students from Angola, through the “Nelson Mandela” programme.
Source: Angola Press News Agency
