A seminar on investment to Angola was held earlier this month in Tokyo, the first event of its kind in Japan.

The event was organized by the Embassy of Angola and sponsored by the Japan Institute for Overseas Investment (JOI) with the support of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Engineering Advancement Association of Japan.

Angolan Ambassador Joao Miguel Vahekeni and JOI President Yoshihiko Morita gave opening remarks, followed by Nobuko Sanui, managing director of Keidanren, and Andre Panzo, director for the Asia and Oceania department of the Angolan Ministry of External Relations. The seminar featured various lectures, such as "How to Invest in Angola" by Maria Luisa Perdigao Abrantes, CEO of National Private Investment Agency; and "Doing Business in Angola" by Nuno Borges da Silva, CEO of Toyota Angola.

Angolan Minister of Geology and Mines Francisco Manuel Monteiro de Queiroz served as the keynote speaker of the event and gave a brief overview of the current situation in Angola, highlighting the African nation's political stability as well as its business-friendly legal framework. He expressed his hopes that the seminar will become a steppingstone that will make Angola and Japan major trading partners in the near future.

Also, there were separate sessions on business opportunities in Angola, focusing on each sector, given by the representatives of the ministries of geology and mines, industry, agriculture, power and water and transports, and the national diamond company.

With 170 representatives of Japanese companies attending, the event contributed to presenting the countless business opportunities that Angola offers to the Japanese business community, to putting Angola on the map of Japanese investors and to promoting the image of Angola in Japan.