Luanda, Angola, 7 May – The first edition of the Angola Real Estate Fair (Sima) opened Thursday in Luanda, attended by over 50 companies, and Sunday will be the stage for creation of the Portuguese-speaking Real Estate Confederation (Cimlop).

Luís Carvalho Lima, president of the Portuguese Association of Real Estate Mediation Professionals and Companies (ADEMIP), one of the founding organisations of Cimlop, Thursday told Portuguese news agency Lusa that creating the confederation aimed to “include the Portuguese-speaking countries in joint promotion and sale to foreign markets.”

Carvalho Lima noted that one example of how this new organisation could have a positive effect was the potential for APEMIP, which “is of a good size and has good knowledge,” to “share with it Angolan and Brazilian counterparts and also, soon, with Mozambique.”

Idalina Valente, Angola’s Trade Minsiter, who presided over the inauguration of Sima, said that the fair was part of the various policy areas outlined by the government until 2012, “one of which is to solve housing problems.”

The Minister mentioned Angola’s strong economic growth after 2002 and the effects of the crisis caused by the fall in oil prices and the need to diversify the country’s economy, in which the real estate sector could have “an important contribution.” (macauhub)