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Angola president: We need more dialogue
During 2012 there would be a focus on micro and small businesses and a push to create more jobs in manufacturing and textiles, he said.
The country’s mining sector grew by 11.8 percent from 2008 to 2011, and mining would be further expanded for metals such as copper and manganese.
The economy would only grow by 3.7 percent this year, due largely to a fall in production by the British oil company BP, but would see expansion of 12 percent in 2012, he said.
By 2013, Dos Santos said, Angola’s three railways, which were destroyed during the country’s 27-year civil war, would again be operational and next year would see the completion of the first phase of Luanda’s new international airport.
The president also said the country would have a new port, which was to be built just north of the capital at Barra do Dande, and that plans were underway to build a deep-water port in the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda.
The president faces mounting criticism for his long and often autocratic rule, and his failure to spread the oil wealth in Africa’s second-largest petroleum producer.
Anti-government protests started in March, growing steadily from small numbers to a crowd of 700 on Saturday, forcing the authorities to beef up security.
Opposition parties who attended Tuesday’s event said the president told them nothing new and that he had merely used the platform as a pre-election campaign opportunity.
“It was only his second time in parliament and he did not engage with the parliamentarians,” said opposition UNITA MP Jaka Jamba, who regretted that Dos Santos left immediately after the address.
Copyright 2011 AFP. All rights reserved
