The following Statement was issued by the Government of Angola, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on February the 19^th, :

• ASSUMING the authority to negotiate and make decisions on the behalf of the Angolan Nation,
• REALIZING the primary needs and interests of the Angolan People,
• BELIEVING that the utmost concern of These Negotiations is to reach consensus,

• For a country like Angola, it is absolutely imperative that international programs, designed to decrease the level of instability and creating proper conditions for refugees, should continue. It is also very likely that the Angolan government will take part in any program which can facilitate the repatriation processes and provide help to medical institutions in terms of supplies and specialists. It is quite logical then, that the Angolan government would show greater concern in negotiating and providing various support and longing for partnership for every participant of the negotiations, who will have interest and good will in some or all of the above areas.
• It is the Angolan people's and government's utmost desire to take part in any pan-African or regional organization, like those, from existence of which Angola benefits -- SADC or ECOWAS, which will consist of African nationals, people with more or less common morals, values, historical experience of both oppression and independence, who can sympathize with each other and offer solutions from the same point of view. An organization like that may be able to share insight on what may not have worked within their own country and will know first hand what may be best and work most effectively for the whole of Africa.
• The above-mentioned partnership or/and cooperation can promote loans and financial aid system, all-African and international , in order to fight effectively against HIV epidemic in West Africa, which can provide considerable funds for medication supplies, treatment technologies, increase AIDS testing and educational programs, of which the last has examples with positive outcomes, and all of the above seems to be vital for the health of not only West Africans but for the African and the world community in general.
• It is no secret that Angola is located in the world's poorest neighborhood. However, the Angolan government and people strongly believe that with the help of, and partnership with West African, African and other communities there certainly exists a number of ways to overcome these endless loan-debt cycles: the admittance of Angolan private owned banks into the BNA monopoly banking system, what should bring in some stabilization in loan repayments; the readjustment of the " African Development Bank" in order to make it run more efficient; negotiation on a number of export-import treaties, which will put Angola a step higher than one-commodity exporter ( agricultural products like coffee, cassava, yams, cotton, manioc); use of foreign aid and long-term loans for upgrading and maintaining existing electric power plants and telecommunication companies; reconstruction of roads and bridges destroyed by UNITA guerrillas; use of partnership, cooperation and foreign aid for strengthening local communities by increasing production, employment and income in agriculture and thus creating a regional food exporter, and also privatizing state-owned enterprises and speeding up the foreign investment procedures.

The last but not the least topic for Angola is environmental protection. The cooperation between the African states, foreign aid and loan agreements will be applied by the Angolan government to: conservation as seen as an integral part of the farming system, also the development of conservation programs will have to be looked at as a long term activity with consistent support. Angola will have to continue to require valuable technical and financial assistance of bilateral and multilateral donors and it is necessary for a strong team of highly qualified nationals to be involved.

• Angola will unarguably participate in conference activities in order to pursue its national interests surely agreeing to modify and apply them in order to meet the needs of others. Its government is open-minded, and is undoubtedly ready for starting various cooperation and partnership programs.