Angola Roundup: Climate control stations, White House visit, HIV

Climate control stations

The Angolan government plans to establish 100 climate control and accident prevention stations across the country. The Angolan Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication at a climate disaster prevention event by Kenyan President William Ruto in Dubai on December 3 said over 80 climate control and accident prevention stations are currently operational, local media Jornal de Angola reports.

White House visit

Angola's President João Lourenço met with US President Joe Biden for the first time in the Oval Room of the White House, expressing openness to strengthening economic partnerships and interests in energy, transport, and space exploration, Angolan state media Angola Press reported. President Lourenço told reporters that President Joe Biden's pledge to see the African continent developed is demonstrated by US participation in the Lobito Corridor and other sustainable energy and telecommunications initiatives. "These infrastructures will help not only Angola but a large part of the continent," he is quoted by the Angola Press.

Persons living with HIV

About 310,000 people in Angola are living with HIV/AIDS, including 35,000 children from birth to age 14, the state-owned media reported. The Angolan Secretary of State for Health for Hospital Area, Leonardo Innocent at the World Day to Combat HIV/AIDS event on December 1 told reporters that 58% of people living with HIV are aware of their serological status and 49% of adults living with HIV benefit from retroviral treatment. He added that the number of counselling and testing services in Angola had increased from 15 in 2004 to 2,714 in 2022, and antiretroviral treatment services for adults increased from 3 to 889.

SADC High-Level Forum

Angola’s President João Lourenço chaired the High-Level Forum on the Great Green Wall of Southern Africa initiative in Dubai, UAE, focusing on mitigating environmental issues in the region. President Lourenço announced that the SADC will invest in human and financial capital in 2024 to promote sustainable industrialisation in the southern part of the continent, the Angola Press reports. He also called for more funding to trigger concrete actions before the next Summit of Heads of States. "The indicative US$27 billion for the implementation of the SADC Great Green Wall Initiative is not close to the financing needs in the region, therefore we need to increase our budget," he is quoted by Angola Press.

Tomato processing factory

Angola’s tomato concentrate factory in the Benguela province, western Angola is set to start operations in March 2024, with a processing capacity of 150 tons per day, the Angolan state media reports. The factory is part of the nation’s Agro-Industrial Complex and aims to transform tomatoes into mass or pulp also includes a cold store and a canning factory to be used as packaging. The management of the complex will be taken over by the private agriculture business group Adérito Areias, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's supervision, the state media reports.