Luanda, ANGOLA, September 19 - President João Lourenço reiterated Friday the country’s commitment to work for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, in the framework of the 2030 Agenda.,

João Lourenço was delivering his speech via videoconference at the High Level Segment on the Sustainable Development Goals held Friday.

Angolan head of State was the first of the 22 Heads of State to speak at the event, held within the framework of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Addressing his peers, João Lourenço pledged the country’s commitment to achieve the said objectives in Angola.

He alluded, in particular, to the struggle for elimination of extreme poverty and  significantly reduce multidimensional poverty levels by 2030.  

"Angolan Government attaches great importance to issues related to combating poverty and increasing the well-being and living quality of the populations," he said.

João Lourenço said that thirty-six “of the 70 action programmes integrating  the National Development Plan of Angola for the period 2018-2022, have an impact on the  eliminating extreme poverty and reducing multidimensional poverty goal” .

Among the various programmes, he mentioned cash transfers, productive inclusion, the generation of work and income, the expansion of infrastructure and the supply of goods, and the expansion of social services.

As for the social services, the President highlighted literacy, education and health, and the strengthening of institutional capacity, especially in the field of social assistance to children, women, young people and the elderly.  

João Lourenço also highlighted the implementation of a programme of social cash transfers started on May 30 this year, which is expected to cover one million and six hundred thousand families.

“This programme launched in partnership with the World Bank, running until 2022, includes a financial package equivalent to USD 420 million”, said President João Lourenço.

João Lourenço also stressed the opening in 2018 of more than 19,000 vacancies for teachers in general education, and about 10,000 vacancies in 2019, totaling more than 29 thousand vacancies for the general education system, only in the past two years.  

In the health sector, he announced 7,600 vacancies opened in 2018, while in 2019, 7,000 vacancies were made available, making a total of 14,600 health professionals.

In the field of infrastructures for the national health system, the statesman highlighted the increase in the number of beds available in hospitals by 5,382 units.

Also highlight went to the importance of family food production in the economy, which, according to him, "constitutes a pillar of enormous relevance in the efforts of the Government of Angola to fight poverty".  

On the other hand, he announced that a programme to “accelerate” family agriculture and fishing is underway, which, he said, will have a major impact on reducing unemployment levels and increasing people's incomes.

The 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly was officially opened on 15 September 2020 and is scheduled to end on 12 September 2021.

The general debate of the 75^th Session 22-29 September 2020.

 

The debate runs under the theme : “The Future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism – confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action."

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