Tapping Namibe’s potential: Governor Salomao Xirimbimbi is looking to the U.S. for further growth.

Namibe’s industrialization drive is being spearheaded by the province’s ambitious governor, Salomao Xirimbimbi, whose leadership has already helped the province become an Angolan economic success story in areas such as agriculture, mining and, most recently, tourism. In an exclusive interview, Mr. Xirimbimbi describes his empathy for the United States and its people and his plans for continued economic growth.

Why do you think your province stands out so strikingly in comparison to the rest of Angolan provinces?
Basically, because it has so much untapped potential and because it is the only province that wasn’t affected by the military conflict that raged in our country. There are no land mines here of any kind. You can travel all over the province either in daylight or in the evening, whether by car, bicycle, plane, train, bus or on foot. There are no security problems of any kind.

Namibe’s thriving agricultural sector has been one of the mainstays of your economy. To what do you owe its success?
We have so many unique features. Namibe has a very sophisticated irrigation system. Furthermore, it is the only province where grapes and olives can be grown. These are two products that cannot be found anywhere else in the country. And curiously, these products are of a quality similar to those grown in the state of California. With the right investment and technological assistance, we could produce wines of similar quality here in Namibe. Our province is also the number-one area in Angola for raising goats, sheep and cattle.

What other areas would provide investment opportunities?
We would like to make a special appeal to the U.S. for investment in the fishing sector. The U.S. fishing fleet is one of the largest in the world and America is a top market for consumption of fish products. We would like to count on U.S. investment, not only to help us develop the sector, but also to diversify U.S.-Angolan cooperation that has focused on oil for so many years.

Namibe is known for its huge reserves of iron ore. What potential does the sector have?
Our province is special in this respect because it has a port that is linked to mineral extraction. It is a trading port, plus a mining port at the same time, which are unique features in Angola. The port plays a major role in the mining sector as it is connected to the extraction of iron ore from the Cassinga mines, which have a railway that goes beyond Namibe through the Huila province and ends up in Menongue city in the Kuando Kubango province. The railway has enormous potential for developing the southern region of Angola and the continent as a whole, as it links our country to the railway systems of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania.

What about other mineral resources?
We also have high-quality gypsum and another raw material that is used for cement. As for the gypsum, ours was analyzed by laboratories in Germany and was found to be of the highest quality, so now there’s a lot of German interest to invest in the plaster sector. We also have rare types of limestone, marble and granite and we have minerals that could be of strategic interest to the U.S. economy. All we need to do is make these things known to potential investors.

What can Namibe offer in terms of tourism?
Some of the flora and fauna found in the province cannot be found anywhere else in the world. It is the only place you can find the octopus-like Welwitschia Mirabilis desert plant. We have zebras and wild animals running free in our natural parks and hunting reserves. We have fantastic resort spots, and since Namibe is the country’s major coastal area, we have excellent beaches.

What else can the potential U.S. investor expect to find in Namibe?
We have potable water throughout the province, there is no war, there is transparency in the administration, there is no corruption and there is good management. We are only in need of capital and partners in order to tap into all the resources. The province also provides incentives to investors through general laws. We want to industrialize our province. For example, we have all the required natural resources to set up a cement industry here. U.S. businesses wanting to come to Africa should choose Angola as a target and then they would be wise to select Namibe as their top province for investment.