samedi 22 novembre 2008

Angola: MPs Weigh Up Importance of Bio-Fuels

The production of bio-fuels in Angola represents a challenge to the Government that has as its strategic priority the fight against poverty that affects most of the population, as a result of the 30-year civil war that devastated the country.

This was said Wednesday in São Paulo, Brazil, by Angolan MP and deputy secretary of the National Assembly (Parliament), Emília Carlota Celestino Dias, during a parliamentary round table that focused on "Parliaments and Bio-fuel".

As a result of the war, she said, the populations abandoned the rural areas and agriculture ceased being a development factor as the areas with great agricultural potential are still mined and people afraid to settle in certain localities.

In order to reverse the situation, the official said, Angolan Government is carrying out, in a sustainable way, the programme of demining and relocation of the populations.

It is also making big investments in the sectors of agriculture and farming with a view to boosting development of sources of renewable raw materials and clean energy, for the foment of job in the rural area.

"With the end of the war, six years ago, the implementation of these Government measures constitute an incentive to the return of the populations to the areas of cultivation and thus Angola will resume its normal cycle of production," the MP stressed.

She recalled that in the past Angola produced sugar from which it would extract ethanol then used in hospitals.

Emília Carlota Celestino Dias is at the head of Angolan delegation attending the International Conference of bio-fuels. Other members of the team are Maria da Conceição Pinto and Mateus Isabel Júnior.

The round table that gathered representatives of 14 countries, totalling 48 MPs, admitted the need for regular such meetings. The event was on the sidelines of the ongoing conference for concert of viewpoints about the legislation on bio-fuels production.