Rio de Janeiro – Angola reaffirmed last Wednesday, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, its political commitment to sustainable development and defended the creation of a specialised UN agency that would deal with this issue.

This stand was manifested by the Angolan Vice President, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, who spoke on behalf of the Angolan Head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos, at the summit of Heads of State and Government on Sustainable Development.

According to the Vice President, Angola endorses the African position which identifies the real challenges to the continent and recommends the renovation of the political commitment to sustainable development and the implementation of Green Economy in the world.

Thus, he assured that the country will continue to make efforts so that in view of the national reconstruction process it can implement the Millennium Development Goals as outlined by the United Nations.
 

He also explained that in spite of the national responsibility of each country, the UN System has a funadamental role in the sustainable development and creation of conditions for the promotion of technologies transfer, research and innovation, as well as in the improvement of international mechanisms and tools.

On the other hand, Fernando Dias dos Santos valued the unanimous positionwhich defends that the eradication of poverty is the greatest challenge of humanity to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
 

According to the Vice President, since the adoption of the Agenda 21 and the subsequent international compromises in favour of sustainable development, Angola is committed to the implementation of the decisions that were taken and it has had positive results.
 

He spoke about the investments in social infrastructures that have contributed to the reduction of infant-maternal death, also that over six million children this year entered the schooling system.

He also informed that the country continues to diversify its production, namely with sectors such as agriculture, construction, energy and industry, thus, decreasing the pressure on non renewable natural resources, enabling the reduction of unemployment and improve the people’s living standards.

He spoke about the current trans-border initiatives turned to the protection of biodiversity, mentioning the cases of Maiombe forest, which Angola shares with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo and Gabon, as well as the Okavango-Zambeze Project that involves five countries of the southern Africa region.
 

To the Vice President, these actions will facilitate the regional integration and co-operation, as well as preserve the environment in a process of inclusion of rural communities as beneficiaries.