Angola receives UN aid to help foster investment

The United Nations, which sent four separate missions to Angola during its devastating decades-long civil war in efforts to help end the conflict, is seeking to strengthen the capacities of the now peaceful southern African country in the field of investment.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) today issued a study outlining the legal framework for private investment in Angola in an effort to systematize information on the investment situation.

“To promote investment in Angola and successfully conclude international investment agreements, the Government must reinforce the legal framework for investment, and the report aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Angolan framework and its historic development,” said the agency, which was established in 1964 to foster the development-friendly integration of poorer countries into the world economy.

The study gives an overview of Angolan laws and decrees regulating private investment, in particular foreign direct investment. Angola’s involvement in international conventions and regional agreements on investment is also analysed and an overview of the international agreements on foreign investment signed by Angola is included.

The study was prepared by the UNCTAD TrainForTrade programme and the Division on Investment and Enterprise. The TrainForTrade programme for Angola aims at assisting the Government in implementing locally owned national training and capacity-building activities in international trade and investment. The project is funded by the European Commission.

Launched in 1998, TrainForTrade programmes seek to strengthen national and regional human and institutional resources for trade and investment as a key to growth for UNCTAD member countries, particularly the least developed ones (LDCs). The programme works with UNCTAD’s research and analytical departments to design, update, and adapt learning materials and deliver training courses.

During Angola’s civil war between the Government, backed by Cuban troops, and rebels led by Jonas Savimbi and supported by South African forces, the UN sent three separate verification missions, beginning in 1989, to help implement various efforts to end the conflict.

The first two successfully monitored the withdrawal of Cuban troops and oversaw a multilateral ceasefire. The third, sent after renewed fighting and mandated to deploy 7,000 troops, sought to help the parties restore peace and achieve national reconciliation, but was faced with continued conflict.

The fourth and final peacekeeping mission, the UN Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), was withdrawn in 1999 following the collapse of the peace process and the shooting down of two UN aircraft.