Angolan FM calls for speeding up regional integration

Angolan Foreign Minister Georges Chikoti on Tuesday said his country stood for speeding up integration policies in member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), particularly in trade field.

Chikoti made the appeal when speaking to the press in Harare, Zimbabwe where he would attend an extraordinary summit of SADC set for April 30 on behalf of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Angola's official news agency Angop reported.

The minister said that Angola has signed cross-border trade agreements with neighboring countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and intended to sign similar agreements with Namibia and Zambia in a clear evidence of regional integration.

"This summit, according to Angola, has great expectations at a time when the country is working toward outlining its integration policies in the region," the minister said, adding that his government intended to complete the regional integration plan by the year 2017 to promote trade and business transactions between Angola and neighboring countries.

Chikoti said Angola was engaged in diversification of its oil- dependent economy to reduce the cost of acquiring the products from international markets, and the integration in the region also ensured the reduction of Angola's export costs.

He stressed Angola's priority focused on the conclusion of the economic integration plan to establish a free trade area in the sub-region which was lagging behind in free trade plans.

The Harare summit was expected to adopt a strategy and road map for industrialization and review the regional development plan in member countries which covered the 2015-2020 period of time. Endi