Angola
Angola not to join the OPEC

afrol News, 21 June  - Angola's new ambassador to the United States, Josefina Pitra Diakite, presented her credentials to President George W. Bush in the White House in Washington yesterday. She assured the US President Angola would not join the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and thus continue as a reliable source for US oil imports.

Ambassador Diakite, Angola's third ambassador to the United States, told President Bush that Angola's vast oil reserves could help provide a solution to the current U.S. energy crisis. "Mr. President, from America's standpoint, you should remember that Angola is the United States' seventh largest supplier of oil. We want to be part of the solution," said Ambassador Diakite. 

Ambassador Diakite offered to meet with US officials in the near future to discuss how the United States and Angola could work together to increase the flow of oil from Angola to the United States, according to a statement from the Embassy of Angola in Washington. Angola currently provides 3.5 percent of United States' oil imports and 7.1 percent of non-OPEC oil. 

In a letter presented to President Bush at yesterday's ceremony, Ambassador Diakite stated, "It is my firm desire to be able to concentrate my efforts on positive actions that contribute to the broadening and deepening of political and economic relations between our countries in both bilateral and multilateral spheres." 

She added that the "progress achieved in bilateral relations between Angola and the United States over the years, and in particular since the establishment of a permanent consultation mechanism, is witness to the value of diplomacy as the touch stone and indispensable instrument for establishing friendly and cooperative international relations."

Prior to her assignment in Washington, Ambassador Diakite served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Angola to the Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Denmark and Republic of Finland while residing in Stockholm, Sweden from 1993 to 2000, according to the Angolan Embassy.

Born in Lobito, Angola, Ambassador Diakite received a degree in law in 1985 from the Agostinho Neto University. She began her diplomatic career in the Secretariat of State for Cooperation in 1978. The ambassador is married to Mamadou Diakite and is the mother of two sons.

Source: Based on Angolan Govt. and afrol archives

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