Luanda– About USD 600 billion is required in the next 15 years for the country to reduce its dependence on oil, said Friday in Luanda the Angolan economist Alves da Rocha.

The economist said so during a lecture on "The effects of the financial crisis in the Angolan economy".

According to him, in order to have by 2025 an industrial economy in transition to that of services, in which the manufacturing industry represents 30 percent of the GDP and services sector 25%, the country will need to invest, from 2010 to 2025, monetary values ranging from 400 and 600 billion dollars.

To the expert, who considered it as a huge challenge, the process is not only restricted to investments in infrastructures, but also on the qualification of human resources, increasing the managing capacity of the public administration sector, as well as organising and guiding the process of diversifying the economy.

Ho noted that with achievement of peace in 2002, Angolans are in position to joint efforts towards achieving sustainable development, which requires public and private investment, as well as staff training.

Alves da Rocha underlined that if the country does not discover new fields for oil exploration, the current reserves of 3.5 billion barrels will only have an exploration period of 20 to 22 years.

  To him, oil revenues should be well applied, so as to boost the diversification of the economy.