London, United Kingdom, 4 Nov – Angola attracted over US$2 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) between January and September of this year, despite the world financial crisis, the coordinator of Angola’s National Private Investment Agency (ANIP) said in London.

Aguinaldo Jaime made the statements during the “Business in Portuguese”, conference organised jointly by Angola’s Expansão newspaper and Portugal’s Diário Económico, and the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom.

The conference, which brought together businesspeople from Britain and Portuguese-speaking nations, had the main aim of promoting the investment climate and business opportunities in Angola, Brazil and Portugal to businesspeople and organisation based in the UK.

“Until September, private investments in non-oil sectors have exceeded US$2.21 billion, which exceeds the 2009 figure by around 21 percent. If we include re-investments, this figure rises to US$4.458 billion. Of this amount, 29.78 percent is focused on the manufacturing industry,” Aguinaldo Jaime added.

The coordinator of ANIP also said that in 20009 new investments outside the oil sector in Angola totalled US$1.829 billion, which exceeded the US$1.333 billion figure achieved in 2008.

“If we include re-investments the figure for private non-oil investment in 2009 rises to US$3.306 billion, placing Angola in the most successful group of African countries in terms of attracting investment,” he noted.

The conference, which has as its main speakers, as well as the Angolan representatives, Basílio Horta, chairman of the Portuguese Foreign Investment and Trade Agency (AICEP), and Paulo Moraes, deputy chairman of the Brazilian for Trade and Investment Promotion (Apex Brasil), was the first of its kind to be held in the British capital. (macauhub)