PALOP ministers will debate new public finances such as environmental sustainability, gender and digital development in Lisbon this week, said former Portuguese finance minister João Leão.
“The conference aims to enhance transparency and improve the quality of public finances in the Lusophone African countries (PALOP) and East Timor and contribute to strong public finances in these countries, within the framework of a European Union-funded program, and will debate the new funding themes, such as environmental issues, sustainability, the digital transition, gender and inequality issues, in addition to the theme of public procurement and how they can contribute to sustainability,” said João Leão.
Speaking to Lusa on the eve of the second Public Finance Meetings – Building Strong and Inclusive Institutions, which will take place in Lisbon on Thursday and Friday, João Leão emphasized that the meeting, as part of a postgraduate course in Public Finance at ISCTE, Lisbon the Minister of Finance of Angola, Vera Daves de Sousa, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Cape Verde, Olavo Correia, among other leaders and senior government officials from Portuguese-speaking African countries.
“In addition to the concepts, there will also be an exchange of experience between the different countries, in order to take advantage of the good practices in each of them,” emphasized the former minister, highlighting that the Angolan minister will speak about the Angola case, which ” recently had a financial adjustment program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which it concluded with great success”.
For Portugal, the former official concluded, it will also be an opportunity to strengthen ties with the PALOP and East Timor, not only in technical and personnel training, but also “in other areas of public finance, monitoring and support and shows confidence in these countries”.
The meeting will start on Thursday morning with a speech by the Angolan Minister of Finance on the theme “Public Finance Reform – the recent path and major challenges in Angola”, followed by João Leão’s speech on “The role of solid, transparent and responsible public finance”.
On Friday, it is the turn of the former Minister of Finance of Cape Verde, Cristina Duarte, to address the theme “Which ways to adapt public policies to the transformation of the continent?” Verde, Olavo Correia, presents “Public Expenditure and Social and Financial Responsibility: The Case of Cape Verde”.
In addition to the former rulers, the president of the Portuguese Court of Auditors, José Tavares, several Portuguese-speaking female deputies and the president of Orango Investment Corporation, Guinean Paulo Gomes, will speak at the forum, which ends Friday afternoon.
Source: DN
