The Minister of Public Works and Territorial Planning, Manuel Tavares de Almeida, represented the Republic of Angola at the First Session of 2022 of the Executive Board of the United Nations Programme for Human Settlements - UN-HABITAT, held at the United Nations complex in Nairobi, from 29 to 31 March 2022.
The delegation included the Secretary of State for Territorial Planning, Molares D'Abril, the Ambassador of the Republic of Angola in the Republic of Kenya and Permanent Representative to the UN Offices in Nairobi, Sianga Abílio, National Directors of the Ministry of Public Works and Territorial Planning and officials of the Angolan Embassy in Nairobi.
The head of the Angolan delegation was one of the entities that spoke at the opening plenary session having stated that the Angolan State has started works in 33 Centralities (small cities) of which 23 are concluded with 88,924 housing units and 10 are still to be concluded with 19,746 housing units, totaling 108,670 units that benefit over 760 thousand inhabitants in a dignified way and with security of legal possession over the property.
According to the minister Manuel Tavares de Almeida the Angolan authorities are currently concluding construction of a further 20 urbanisation projects with around 30,000 housing units aimed at rehousing families in a situation of risk and vulnerability as a result of natural disasters as well as the population with low economic and financial incomes.
In 2021, the Minister of Public Works and Territorial Planning said, the Angolan state has undertaken to build three more centralities with 5,000 housing units that will benefit 35,000 inhabitants with a view to safeguarding the right to "Housing and quality of life for citizens" enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Angola and improving precarious/informal settlements because what was basically recommended was to make our cities and towns inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Minister Manuel Tavares de Almeida acknowledged that UN-HABITAT has been a fundamental partner to the Government of Angola for the promotion and fostering of social and economic development since the implementation of its objectives in the Central and Local Government in Angola has allowed to dream and prosper "for a better urban future", having reiterated the intention of the Government of Angola to continue to work with this United Nations Programme in the assistance in the several domains of Territorial Planning and Housing, observing the Objectives of the Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda.
During three days the Member States analyzed the UN-Habitat activities report in the most varied domains of its action; projecting the next great world events linked to the sector such as the High Level meeting on the 28th of April, in New York, on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda; the holding from 26th to 30th June 2022, of the 11th World Urban Forum in the Polish city of Katowice and; decided to transfer to November 2022, during the Second Session of UN-Habitat, the conclusion of the discussions on the budget and work programme of UN-Habitat for the year 2023.
The Executive Board of UN-Habitat approved the candidacy of the city of Cairo, Egypt, to hold the 12th World Urban Forum in 2024.
On the sidelines of the plenary sessions, the head of the Angolan delegation held a working meeting with the Regional Director for Africa of UN-Habitat, Oumar Sylla, where he reiterated Angola's willingness to work towards strengthening cooperation with UN-Habitat particularly in the implementation of projects linked to housing and Territorial planning policies, to this end he agreed on the need for Angola and the Africa Regional Directorate of UN-Habitat to maintain permanent contacts through focal points and exchanged views with the Executive Director of UN-Habitat Maimunah Mohd Sharif on various issues related to the promotion of sustainable urbanization to improve the living conditions of citizens.
The Angolan delegation received from the Kenyan authorities a formal invitation to the Angolan government to participate, from 17th to 22th of May of 2022, in the 9th Conference on African Cities (Africities) in the Kisumu,Kenya.
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