Angola interested in Russian arms.

Luanda needs Russian military arms and equipment and is interested in developing military-technical cooperation with Moscow, Angola’s President Joao Lourenco told TASS First Deputy Director-General Mikhail Gusman in an exclusive interview.

Ural trucks of the Angolan army (Picture source: U.S. Army)

Angola’s President Joao said that at talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin the two sides arrived at the conclusion that there were quite a few areas for expanding bilateral cooperation: "For instance, Angola has been a traditional user of Russian weapons and other hardware crucial for the protection of our territory," Lourenco said. "This is a field where we would like to build up cooperation with Moscow."

The Angolan leader expressed interest in Russia’s investment into such branches of the economy as health care, tourism, culture, fishing and extraction of mineral resources. "At negotiations with the Russian president we agreed to exert the necessary efforts to ensure our countries move closer to each other to let us expand cooperation for the sake of strengthening our economy," he said.

Currently, Russian-Angolan interaction in the defense sphere is governed by the inter-government agreement on military-technical cooperation signed in 2006. In 2013, the two countries concluded an intergovernmental agreement on implementing a program for military and military-technical cooperation and cooperation in the law enforcement (it did not take effect).

In 2013, a $1-billion contract was concluded with Russia’s weapons exporter Rosoboronexport for the supply of 18 Su-30K fighter jets with matching weapons, transport helicopters Mi-17, tanks, small arms, ammunition and spare parts for military equipment of Soviet manufacture provided earlier. An office of the corporation Rostec operating in Angola services the interests of Rosoboronexport.

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