The Angolan Embassy has promised to continue harnessing Nigeria’s various economic potentials as it opened a visa collection centre in Port Harcourt.

The embassy said the measure was part of efforts to strengthen business ties with Nigeria.

Jose Zan, the Angolan ambassador to Nigeria, gave the assurance during Tuesday’s opening ceremony of the centre in Port Harcourt.

According to him, both countries (Nigeria and Angola) experience many hurdles in accessing the Angola visa from Port Harcourt, hence the need for the centre.

The envoy noted that the centre was expected to satisfy the travel needs of the Angolan community residents in the South-South and South-East.

“I have been on duty in Nigeria less than a year during which I’m ensuring better business approach between Nigeria and Angola. One of my targets is to enhance travel experience for the Angolan and Nigerian communities and one of the ways to achieve this is to ensure an easy facilitation in terms of visa procurement.

“These communities have suffered lots of huddles shuttling both countries from Port Harcourt; sometimes, when they had to fly to Abuja to procure their visas, they end up missing business appointments and spending extra cost on hotels.

“That’s why we are here in Port Harcourt, to enhance speedy procurement of Angolan visas which is easy and also possible within 24 hours,” he said.

Onyemaechi Ejindu, CEO of Akwahelms Ltd, also a partner in the centre, said the centre was poised to implement professional strategies to enhance Angola’s travel experience.

He noted that the advantage of having the collection centre in Port Harcourt was that it would help address the difficulties of traveling to Lagos or Abuja to facilitate visa allocations.

“Now that the Angolan embassy has brought a visa centre closer to the south and eastern states, we also look forward to collaborating with other airlines that will be linked to the Angolan national airline in terms of connectivity.

“As we speak, it’s surprising the number of Nigerian/Angolan community that shuttle between Angola and Port Harcourt for various types of businesses.

“This is why we made efforts to establish this centre in order to reach out to those who are into trading and other businesses,” he said.

Mr Ejindu said Angola, like Nigeria, had many attractions, and both countries were beginning to appreciate their similarities and exploit economic relationships.

According to him, like Nigeria, Angola is richly endowed with crude oil and other natural deposits, such as gold and diamonds.

(NAN)