ZEE: Angola President Unveils Tractor and Mobile Phone Assembly Plants

Special Economic Zone issued the following announcement on October 14.

The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, Wednesday inaugurated an assembly factory for agricultural tractors and another for mobile phones, installed in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE), in Viana municipality, in Luanda.

With a capacity to produce 3,000 units per year, the tractor assembly factory is the result of an agreement between Angola and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), at an investment of US$65 million.

The factory, the first of its kind in the country, began assembling tractors in the first half of this year, with more than 80 percent of its workforce.

Implementation of the factory counted on partnerships from the Private Investment and Export Promotion Agency (AIPEX) and the ministries of Industry and Trade and the Economy and Planning and the collaboration of the multinational Massey Ferguson, which specialises in manufacturing agricultural tractors.

At the inauguration, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was represented by Dubai's Sheikh Ahmed Dalmoor Al Maktoum, investment promoter.

From 2017 to 2020, the country spent over three million dollars importing agricultural tractors, according to Ivan do Prado, secretary of state for industry.

He added that the average cost of importing an 85 horsepower tractor was around US$85,000, whilst those mounted in the ZEE, and with the same power, would cost around US$35,000.

Mobile phone assembly plant

In its turn, the "Afrione" brand mobile phone, tablet, computer and electronic accessory assembly plant will initially produce 3,000 phones per year.

Sixty-three young Angolans work on assembling phones, tablets, computers and accessories, according to figures revealed at the inauguration ceremony.

The two units will create 200 new jobs together, mostly for young Angolans.

Angola imports around one million mobile phones annually, which has led the country to spend over US$150 million in the last three years.

Original source can be found here.