The 47 years of diplomatic and cooperation relations between Angola and Italy, started on June 4, 1976, were marked by six bilateral commission meetings.

Bilateral Commission meetings discussed and approved the three-year programmes related to cooperation actions and projects in different fields.

The last session took place in 1991, during the political and military instability experienced in Angola, as well as the insolvency in the payment of Angola’s debt to Italian creditors.

Currently, Angola is Italy´s third sub-Saharan African trading partner, after South Africa and Nigeria.

The Italian government put Angola in its list of priorities, due to its cooperation strategy in the sub-Saharan African region since 1989.

Both countries formalised diplomatic and cooperation relations on June 4, 1976. The countries signed on August 3, 1977 a Technical Cooperation, the Memorandum of Intent through which Angola and Italy created a Joint Commission.

Both countries signed the first legal instrument called the Air Transport Agreement on April 10, 1976.

In 2014, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Italy visited

Angola as part of the excellent political, diplomatic and cooperation relations between the two governments.

In 2015, the former Angolan Head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos, visited Italy. The visit marked the deepening of the political, diplomatic and cooperation relations between Angola and Italy.

Still, on the Angolan side, in April 2017, the former Speaker of the National Assembly, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, visited the Italy, during which the parties signed the Cooperation Protocol between the Angolan Parliament and the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic.

In July 2017, the former Angolan minister of National Defence, João Lourenço, visited Italy as the special envoy of the Republic of Angola, during which he met with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of that country, Paolo Gentiloni Silveri.

From 26 to 27 November 2017, Paolo Gentiloni Silveri, was on a working visit to Angola for contacts aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation.

On October 24-25, 2018, Angola´s former Foreign Minister, Manuel Augusto, participated in the II Edition of the Italy and Africa Ministerial Conference.

The Conference contributed to establishing of a mechanism for dialogue on issues of mutual interest, as well as represented an opportunity to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

On February 6, 2019, during the visit of the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella to Angola the parties signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the Angolan Ministry of Finance and Cassa Depositi and Prestiti S.p.A. of that European country.

On March 13, 2022, an Italian delegation, headed by the former Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, visited Angola to evaluate and plan the current energy situation in the search for new partnerships, in the framework of energy transition and renewable energies.

In April 2022, an Italian delegation, led by the former Foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, on behalf of the former president of Italy’s Council of Ministers, Mario Draghi, visited Angola.

The visit ended with the signing of the Declaration of Intent for Cooperation in the energy field by the Angolan minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas and the Italian Minister of Ecological Transition.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)