Embassy of India
Luanda

Bilateral Brief on India-Angola Relations

Relations between India and Angola, one of the major oil producers in Africa, are underpinned by a vibrant energy partnership and date back to pre-independence era of Angola. In an act of solidarity, India supported Angolan freedom struggle against the Portuguese colonial rule till the country attained independence in 1975. Since then, the Indian leadership has retained robust ties with the reigning political establishment in Angola - MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola). India established diplomatic relations with Angola in 1985.

Angola and India cooperate in various multilateral forums and have been supportive of each other candidatures.

Political

The first VVIP visit from India to Angola took place in May 1986 by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi which was reciprocated by President of Angola José Eduardo dos Santosin April 1987.

PM Dr. Manmohan Singh met with President Jose Santos on the sidelines of the G-8 meeting at L’Aquila, Italy on July 10, 2009.

In Oct 2015, Vice President of Angola, Manuel Vicente visited India to participate in the Third India Africa Summit.  He was accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Information Technology and Communications.  The Vice President had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister. Agriculture Minister had meeting with his Indian counterpart. MoS PNG along with ONGC Videsh MD called on the Vice President to discuss cooperation in the field of energy.

During his visit to Johannesburg to attend the BRICS Summit, Angolan President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 26, 2018 and discussed ways to enhance trade and investment between the two countries and also to deepen cooperation in sectors like Energy, agriculture, food processing and pharmaceuticals.

Foreign Minister/ MOS Visits/ Meetings (Incoming)

Angolan Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo de Miranda visited India in May 2006 and Foreign Minister Georges R Chikoti visited India in February 2011 to attend India-LDC Ministerial Conference in New Delhi.

Foreign Minister/ MOS Visits/ Meetings (Outgoing)

MOS (Anand Sharma) visited Angola in June 2007. During the visit he called on the President of Angola and had meetings with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Petroleum and Geology and Mines, and President of Endiama, the state-owned diamond company.

MoS (V.K. Singh) visited Luanda on 15 July 2015 as Special Envoy of PM to personally hand over invitation for the IAFS III.   During the visit he called on Vice President Manuel Vicente.

MOS (M.J. Akbar ) visited Angola on 15-16 March 2018 and held bilateral meeting with Domingos Custodio Viera Lopes, Secretary of State for International Cooperation and Angolan Communities on March 16, 2018. The MOU on ICT was signed during the visit.

Other Ministerial / Secretary level / Important Visits (Incoming)

Other Ministerial / Secretary level / Important Visits (Outgoing)

Bilateral Mechanism

Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) - On January 30, 2017, India and Angola signed an Agreement for the establishment of the Joint Commission. EAM Dr S. Jaishankar and the Foreign Minister of Angola Téte António co-chaired the First India-Angola Joint Commission Meeting on September 07, 2020. Both sides comprehensively reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and agreed to diversify the trade relations. Discussions included cooperation in health, pharmaceuticals, defence, agriculture, food processing, digitization & telecom. Three MoUs on health, training and visa facilitation were signed during the meeting.

Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) - A Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations was signed during the visit Angolan Minister for External Relations Joao Bernardo de Miranda to India on May 10, 2006. Subsequently, first round of Foreign Office Consultations were held on 11.08.2023 in Luanda.

Economic and Commercial Cooperation

India is the 3^rd largest trading partner of Angola sharing about 10% of Angola´s external trade, mainly on account of bulk crude oil purchase. The balance of trade is in Angola’s favour, with India as the 2^nd largest oil importer of Angola, which accounts for 90% of our bilateral trade. Our trade relationship has long remained driven by oil partnership and there is a need to diversify our trade into other areas. Government of Angola has embarked upon a policy for diversification of its trade basket. Since 2021-22, the bilateral trade is showing an increasing trade, attaining pre-Covid levels , and the trade reached US$ 3.2 billion in 2021-22, with a major rise in the Indian exports to Angola of US$ 452 million (45% increase on y-o-y basis). The bilateral trade in 2022-23 has reached US$ 4.2 billion with Indian exports to Angola recording a new high of US$ 622 million. Trade figures for last four years are as follows:

India’s Imports/Exports From/To Angola

(US$ Millions)

ICCR/ITEC

Under ITEC, 12 slots were allocated in 2022-23 and 30 ICCR Scholarships were granted in 2022-23. Six officials from the Angolan government participated in the Special PCFD course in FSI from May 06-18, 2019 and One official has attended PCFD course in FSI in March 2023. 57 Officials from MiREX attended a specially designed IT and Cyber Security course organized by MEA (DPA Division) through C-DAC.

Cultural Exchange

A fifteen member cultural troupe from Angola namely Kuenda participated in the 35^th Surajkund Arts & Crafts Festival in Faridabad from March 21-April 04, 2022.  Angolan VindJomba Cultural troupe participate in the Lusophone Cultural Week held in Dec, 2022 in Goa

To commemorate 75 Years of India’s Independence, Embassy of India in Angola has also organized an Indian Cultural and Food Festival ‘Namaste India’.  The event was a week-long celebration started from 4^th November, 2022.  An Indian troupe named ‘A to Z Dance Group’ from New Delhi had also performed during the event.  The event also included cultural performances by local artists.        

Indian Community

Indian community in Angola is around 4000 persons, mainly in business and professionals in offshore oil fields and workers in the establishments of Indian owners mostly engaged in catering, supermarkets, trading and other services; in industries dealing in plastics, metal, steel, garments. In the non-oil sector, a number of projects are being undertaken by Indian companies in retail, hospitality, agriculture plastics, and scrap metal, steel, trading, and other services.

August 2023