Embassy of India
Luanda

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 political establishment in 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

VVIP Visits/ Meetings

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 President Jose Eduardo dos 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

EAM Dr S. Jaishankar had a telephonic conversation with Foreign Minister Tete Antonio on 30 April 2020, which paved the way for holding the first ever Joint Commission Meeting between the two countries through virtual mode. EAM and the Foreign Minister of Angola co-chaired the First India-Angola Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) on 07 September 2020.

Earlier, 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.

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 H.E. Mr. DomingosCustodio Viera Lopes, Secretary of State for International Cooperationand Angolan Communities on March 16, 2018. The MOU on ICT was signed during the visit.

Other Ministerial Visits

The Minister of National Defence, Former Combatants and Homeland Veterans,Mr. João Ernesto dos Santos, led a high leveldelegation to Gujarat from 18th - 22nd October, 2022 in the 12th edition of “DefExpo”, the Indian fair of technology and defence products that took place in Gandhinagar, Gujaratunder the motto “Path to Pride”.TheAngolan delegation also included the Secretary of State for Military Industry, General Afonso Carlos Neto and senior officials from the Ministry of National Defence, Former Combatants and Homeland Veterans, as well as general officers from the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).  On the sidelines of DefExpo 2022, Mr. João Ernesto dos Santos had a fruitful bilateral interaction with Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh.  During the bilateral meeting, ways of strengthening defence cooperation between the two sides were discussed. 

Secretary (Economic Relations), Mr. Dammu Ravi, visited Angola from 8-10 December, 2022 and attended the OACPS summit hosted by Angola.

A delegation from the Ministry of the Interior had participated in the 90th Session of the General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), which had taken place in New Delhi from 18-21 October, 2022.  The Angolan delegation, was led by the Secretary of State for the Interior, José Paulino da Silva, on behalf of the Minister of the Interior, EugénioLaborinho. 

A seven-member high level defence delegation led by General Afonso Carlos Neto, Secretary of State for Material Resources and Infrastructure, Republic of Angola, participated in the “Defexpo 2020” and “India Africa Defence Ministers Meet” in Lucknow from 05-07 February 2020.

Finance Minister Archer Mangueira visited India on September 02, 2019 on a working visit and held discussions with the Exim Bank for various projects under LOCs/Buyers credit programme.

Dr. Silvia Lutucuta, Health Minister of Angola visited India from July 5-10, 2018 and met Health Minister of India and held discussion with CII and premier hospitals.

Mr. Janio da Rosa Correa Victor, Secretary of State for Geology and Mines visited India from March 28-30, 2018 for discussing trading of rough diamonds.

Mr. Abrahão Gourgel, Minister of Economy was in India on a three-day visit in June 2017. He was accompanied by a high level delegation comprising Secretaries of State, Government of Angola in the areas of Agriculture, Industry, Geology & Mining and Transport sector and the Deputy Governors of Bengo, Huambo, Huila and Zaire.

General Salviano de Jesus Sequeria ‘Kianda’, Secretary of State, Ministryof National Defense led a delegation to India to attend the DEFEXPO INDIA 2016 held in Goa from 28-31 March 2016. Minister for Former Combatants and Veterans of the Homeland General Cândido Pereira dos Santos Van-Dúnem visited India from 3-7 May 2016. He led an inter-ministerial delegation comprising representativesfrom departments of health and agriculture. During the visit he had meetings with Minister of State for External Affairs Dr. (Gen) V.K. Singh, Minister for Food Processing and Secretary (EWS) in the Ministry of Defence.

Minister of Agriculture, Pedro Canga visited India from 24-30 May 2016. In his meeting with Indian Minister of Agriculture Sh. Radha Mohan Singh, the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation in agriculture. He visited the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, agriculture cooperative units as well as private entities engaged with agriculture.

Minister Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce visited Angola in March 2008. Shri Murli Deora, then Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas visited Angola in January 2010.

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 Mr. 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. No FOC has been held so far.

Economic and Commercial cooperation

India is the 3^rd largest trading partner of Angola sharing about 9% 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. In 2020-21, the bilateral trade amounted to 2.1 billion USD with major trade being imports of crude oil by India and a 46% downfall from previous years under the Covid impact. The imports in the year 2020-21 stood at US$ 1879.74 million whereas the exports from India was 259.60 million. In the last financial year 2021-22, the bilateral trade increased to US$ 3.2 billion (48% increase over previous FY), with the exports during the period being US$ 452 million and imports being US$ 2725 million. Trade figures for last five years are as follows:

India’s Imports/Exports From/To Angola

      (US$ Millions)

ICCR/ITEC

Each year, India provides 12 slots for Angola under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme (ITEC) and 30 slots under the ICCR Scholarship Programme. 30 ICCR slots have been granted to Angola in 2022-23, whereas 40 scholarships were granted in the year 2021-22 for Angolan students who are doing their Under-Graduation / Post Graduation in variety of courses in various Universities across India. Six officials from the Angolan government participated in the Special PCFD course in FSI from May 06-18, 2019.

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. A 9 member Cultural troupe VindJomba group participated at the Lusopohone Cultural Week in Goa from 3-6 December, 2022.

To commemorate 75 Years of India’s Independence, Embassy of India in Angola organized an Indian Cultural and Food Festival ‘Namaste India’.  The week-long celebration from 4– 12 November, 2022, showcased India’s rich cultural heritage, cuisine, tourism, millets and handicrafts.  An Indian troupe named ‘A to Z Dance Group’ from New Delhi 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 ownersmostly 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.

Dec, 2022