Exclusive: China-Angola ties see great potential as official highlights visible benefits of bilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative

Editor’s Note: In recent years, under China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), practical cooperation between China and Angola has yielded substantial results. Angola has become China’s second-largest African trading partner, while China is Angola’s largest trade partner. An increasing number of Chinese enterprises are investing and operating in Angola, actively participating in the country’s economic diversification process. The total investment by Chinese companies in Angola now exceeds $24 billion, with agriculture being an important area of cooperation, according to the Chinese Embassy in Angola. During the just-concluded 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, António Francisco de Assis (Assis), the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Angola, talked with the Global Times (GT) reporter Yin Yeping about how his country benefited from the BRI. He also refuted smears by some Western media targeting the initiative.