Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa covering President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. government, UN, IMF, World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington and New York.
The United States Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Dr. Colin Kahl, and Minister of State and Head of the Military House of the President of the Republic of Angola, Francisco Pereira Furtado, met in the Pentagon near Washington D.C. on April 8 to discuss the United States – Angola defense partnership.
“The talks reaffirmed the two countries’ commitment to strengthening bilateral defense cooperation, building on and commemorating the five-year anniversary of the 2017 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Department of Defense and the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Angola,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
The United States government added that Dr. Kahl and Minister Furtado “reflected on a range of topics including regional security, security cooperation, peacekeeping operations, cybersecurity, national security strategy, personnel and readiness, and climate change.”
The two sides intended to seek ways to update the 2017 Memorandum of Understanding and to continue to strengthen their bilateral defense partnership.
The Angolan delegation, headed by Mr. Furtado, was in Washington DC between April 6 and April 9, to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing memorandum of understanding in the defense sector between both countries.
That memorandum was signed on May 17, 2017, by the Minister of Defense, and current President of Angola, João Lourenço, and by the Department of Defence of the United States of America, the former Secretary of Defence, General James Mattis.
The Angolan delegation included the Chief of General Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces, Army General António Egídio de Sousa e Santos, the deputy director of the External Intelligence Service, Mário António da Costa.
The activities included the laying of wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery and meetings with several United States officials, including the deputy director of the FBI, Paul Abbate as well as with the Under Secretary of Defense for African Affairs, Chidi Blyden.
Furtado also met with U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, as well as with some Angolans in the United States, including with Angolan journalist Hariana Veras.