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AFTER years of tensions, Portugal and its one time African colony Angola are seeking to put relations back on track, with high-level visits planned to push economic ties and repair their troubled past.
Portuguese Prime Minster Antonio Costa arrives in Luanda on Monday, while Angola's President Joao Laurenco is due to visit Lisbon on November 23 and 24.
The diplomacy marks an effort to move beyond the legacy of colonial rule over Angola that ended in 1975 when Portugal withdrew without handing over power and Angola sank into civil war until 2002.
Angola also entered a new era last year when Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1979 to 2017 stepped down and was replaced by Laurenco.
''Angola and Portugal are emerging from a difficult phase. What's important is that both sides are able to identify obstacles and troublesome elements in order to overcome them,'' Angola's Foreign Minister Manuel Augusto said last week.
A key source of friction was removed in May when a Portuguese court decided that Angola's former vice president Manuel Vicente can be tried in Luanda, rather in Portugal, on corruption charges.
Lourenco had demanded that the trial take place in his country ''so that relations between Angola and Portugal can return to the level of the recent past.'' [Agencies]
Portuguese Prime Minster Antonio Costa arrives in Luanda on Monday, while Angola's President Joao Laurenco is due to visit Lisbon on November 23 and 24.
The diplomacy marks an effort to move beyond the legacy of colonial rule over Angola that ended in 1975 when Portugal withdrew without handing over power and Angola sank into civil war until 2002.Angola also entered a new era last year when Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1979 to 2017 stepped down and was replaced by Laurenco.
''Angola and Portugal are emerging from a difficult phase. What's important is that both sides are able to identify obstacles and troublesome elements in order to overcome them,'' Angola's Foreign Minister Manuel Augusto said last week.
A key source of friction was removed in May when a Portuguese court decided that Angola's former vice president Manuel Vicente can be tried in Luanda, rather in Portugal, on corruption charges.
Lourenco had demanded that the trial take place in his country ''so that relations between Angola and Portugal can return to the level of the recent past.'' [Agencies]
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