Three decades have passed since the night of 11 November 1975, when national independence was proclaimed.  The greatest dream of all Angolans, to be free and masters of their own destiny, was realised on that day.

The liberation struggle that led to that historic moment lasted for about fourteen years, during which there were many acts of great courage, companionship, solidarity and comradeship.

Our thoughts at this time turn to all those who sacrificed their lives or dedicated their lives to the noble cause of independence, because they will live on forever in our hearts and in the memory of the Angolan people.

Outstanding among them was Dr António Agostinho Neto, for the decisive role he played and the inspiring and mobilising undertaking he led.  He was, without any doubt, the paramount figure in the liberation struggle, who everyone now remembers with a sense of loss.

He was also the person who continued the resistance advocated in the past by the great heroes of our people like Jinga Mbandi, Katiavala, Ndunduma, Ekuikui, Mandume and so many others.

In his memory and in the memory of all the anonymous heroes who laid down their lives for our Angolan homeland, let us observe a minute of silence.

After national independence had been proclaimed, the instituted government was faced with the need to organise the state and society.   A political and economic system based on a single party and centralised leadership was then established, as well as legislative, executive and judicial bodies for construction and maintaining political, economic and social order, seeking to further the general and fundamental interests of the people.

There were, at the start, positive results, like the reorganisation of the public administration inherited from colonialism, the expansion of the oil industry, the attendance explosion in the education system, ensuring access to knowledge and personnel training, the establishment of a basic health care system and the organising of capable defence and security forces, as well as making Angola a part of the concert of nations with a policy of active solidarity with national liberation movements, particularly those of Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. 

However, the climate of great external hostility, war, aggression and internal armed conflict in which national independence was proclaimed continued in ever more serious forms.

The high level of public expenditure, owing to the costs of defence and security, resulted in big budget deficits, which were paid for with money issued by the National Bank without counterpart funds, causing persistent galloping inflation.

The economic system no longer generated wealth, because it was exhausted.  The political system was no longer in keeping with the wishes and aspirations of all sections of society.

In order to deal with this difficult and complex situation, the government undertook a series of domestic political and economic reforms to guarantee regional security, achieve internal stability and create conditions for economic recovery and development.

It established a multi-party system, adopted a market economy, opened the way for the activity of civic, professional and cultural associations, and set out a political and diplomatic agenda for achieving regional and internal peace through dialogue and negotiation.

The results were positive.  We improved our military position in the field and in 1988 successfully negotiated the New York peace agreements with apartheid South Africa , mediated by the United States .

We once again improved out position in the field and concluded the Bicesse Accord, on the basis of which we held the first multi-party elections in Angola .

Because the war did not end, we again sought peace, and Angolans, without any external interference, achieved definitive peace on 4 April 2002.

An independent and free Angola , master of its destiny, was the dream realised in 1975. An Angola in conditions of peace and democracy was the dream that became a reality in 2002.  A united and prosperous Angola in which everyone lives well is the dream that we can realise! That is the new course we have started out on.

We therefore need to define the road we are going to follow, the speed at which we will go and the partners with whom we will share interests, with reciprocal advantages.  We also have to be able to determine with the requisite flexibility the role of each internal factor in the process – the state, the public administration, political parties, companies, organised civil society and so forth.

In this era of globalisation, in which every country is a market within a global market, in which information, the values of a universal culture and the norms of western civilisation are disseminated without boundaries, those who are incapable of administrating their market and preserving the values of their identity, transforming them into a contribution to the global process, will become ineffective.

The government established a medium- and long-term Rehabilitation and Development Strategy and, on this basis, drew up an Intercalary Programme for 2005-2006.

I therefore appeal to all institutions, all groups and individuals, to acquaint themselves with this programme and to participate in an organised manner in carrying it out, so that we may achieve positive results when its implementation is reviewed by the National Assembly in mid-2007.

What do we want to achieve through this programme?  The answer is simple.

In the first place , we want to consolidate peace and the democratic process.  True peace must be based on justice and the balanced sharing out of national revenue.  It must also be based on respect for ones fellow people, respect for differences of opinion and tolerance.   The natural differences between people should not be used to divide or create any kinds of separation.  On the contrary, they enrich our common heritage and consolidate national identity in multi-ethnic and cultural diversity.   In this same process, there is no contradiction between general and specific criteria or principles, because they are complementary. 

Social solidarity also enriches and strengthens the peace and national reconciliation process.

The government will continue to see to the reintegration into society and production of former soldiers and their families.  The same attention will be paid to displaced persons and refugees, who are returning to their home areas.  By the end of the first six months of 2005, about half the former Unita soldiers and their families were reintegrated, totalling more than 400,000 people.  The government needs the support of civil society and its partners in the international community to continue this operation.

At the same time, assistance will be given in 2006 to 35,000 physically handicapped people.   This number will progressively grow over the ensuing years until all are covered.

Peace, national reconciliation, freedom and social stability are essential to consolidating our democracy. 

Angola can pride itself on having no prisoners of conscience. There is no citizen detained for his or her opinions in the country.  Everyone is free to express his or her ideas and make whatever criticisms are deemed opportune, provided the rights of other citizens are not violated. 

The situation in the country today permits us to envisage the holding of the next elections with optimism.  We are creating the material, institutional and psychological conditions for them to be free, transparent and with a high level of participation, without any constraints or pressures of any kind.

Parties and coalitions of parties must compete freely and on an equal footing, in accordance with the law.  I ask them to convey messages of tolerance and respect for the norms of civic behaviour to their members and supporters.   I also ask voters to be equal to this major event, participating and voting in an orderly and peaceful manner.

In the second place , through the Intercalary Programme we want to lay the foundations for building a self-sustaining economy based on three principles:

The times of chronic monetary instability and high and uncontrolled prices are indeed long past.

Price and currency stability is one of our great achievements in recent years.  It can be said that it has ushered in a new era of the predictability and confidence essential to new public and private investment and economic growth.

In the immediate future we shall continue to grant micro-credits and distribute working implements, seeds and other agricultural inputs to peasants, particularly rural women, to help to improve the living standards of families and combat hunger and poverty.

The government will endeavour to maintain and strengthen macroeconomic stability, thereby protecting the purchasing power of workers' wages, creating conditions to consolidate and diversify the financial system and increasing national and foreign private investment essentially in production.

In this effort to consolidate macroeconomic stability and relaunch productive economic activity, the government will be heedful of the failings and imperfections of the market.  It will therefore create conditions for healthy and balanced competition between economic operators, so as to prevent price fixing mechanisms from being undermined.

Similarly, the government will not renounce the ideal, so dear to the precursors of our national liberation struggle, of creating a more just and supportive society, using taxation policy to promote the redistribution of revenue for the benefit of the neediest strata.

In the government's view, creating a climate of healthy competition between economic operators is not incompatible with transitional measures to protect and strengthen the capability of national entrepreneurs.  It will therefore take such action.

In implementing its programme, the government will pay redoubled attention to good management in the public realm and the transparency of government action, in short, to good governance.

There was massive destruction of material property during the war.  The aggression of foreign armies alone caused destruction assessed by the United Nations in 1990 to have amounted to US$20 billion.  This amount must have doubled in 2001.

We have a three-year sub-programme of mine clearance and restoring facilities and social equipment destroyed in the war.

We think that our programme could be a catalyst for our economy, since it will permit the free movement of people and goods and involves a great volume of investments that will open the way for national entrepreneurs and for the employment of a great deal of manpower, absorbing many people who are now unemployed.  Hundreds of thousands of new jobs will be created, creating new work opportunities for the youth.

Because there has been no international donor conference to support the reconstruction of Angola , for reasons independent of our volition, the necessary funds will be found by incurring a controlled foreign debt and mobilising private investment.

In the third place , the government programme seeks to ensure the development of the human resources the country needs.

In the colonial past, Angolans were excluded from political decision-making centres and could not practise any kind of profession.  Personnel training was very limited.  The illiteracy rate was more than 95 percent.

Immediately after the proclamation of independence, there was an explosion in school attendance; we attained the figure of 1.6 million pupils, which is three times the number of pupils there were in 1974, the last year of the colonial regime.

The inherited network of schools became insufficient and there was a fall in the number of teachers and the amount of teaching materials available.

Thwarting the government's efforts, 1,300 primary and secondary schools and 16 vocational institutes were destroyed in the war, while another 1,500 schools were left in a seriously deteriorated state.

Even so, over these thirty years the country has educated 9,418 high-level personnel, 6,536 at home and 2,282 abroad, and more than 20,000 medical workers.

From early schooling to higher education, there are currently 4,880,350 students, 4,707,900 of them in primary schools and 131,230 in secondary schools. The target is to triple the number of pupils and students in secondary and higher education.  Educating and training Angolans at all levels will be the touchstone of the development we are engaged in.

We want to carry through the significant reforms in progress in the education system, to make it better suited to the pressing needs of our medium- and long-term development.    For this, we have to lay the human and material foundations, through the training and further training of teachers and technical personnel, for producing the administrators and managers of school establishments.

We need to make an extra effort to ensure that, from their earliest school years, pupils start to familiarise themselves with the new information technology, and that some of our higher institutes of science and technology and the universities transform themselves into catalysts of applied scientific research.

The government's great emphasis will be on education and health, as essential factors in human development and ones that can contribute to increased wealth and social wellbeing.

Civic, moral and patriotic education, combined with academic, technical and vocational training, given from the earliest years until the completion of education, will guarantee the coming into being of the kind of Angolan men and women we need to build a better Angola for all.

In the area of health, we need to train more personnel, so as to provide better care for the whole population.  There are currently 1,659 doctors in the medical association, 1,053 of whom were educated in Angola after independence.  In any case, this number represents only one doctor for every 10,000 inhabitants, though 13 for that number of people would be ideal, in order to be able to provide satisfactory medical care even in the most remote and inhospitable parts of the country.

In order to improve health care nationally, we plan to establish new health centres in the major municipalities.  Within the framework of cooperation with China , we also plan to rehabilitate most of the provincial hospitals and refit them with the most modern medical and surgical equipment. This effort must be accompanied by personnel training, because if these new units are to function normally we will need a large number of nurses, nursing assistants, doctors and hospital managers.

Sport, which has given the Angolan people cause for much happiness in the areas of women's handball, basketball and football, needs greater attention, support and expansion.  We are in the world championships in these sports.  Now we must do all we can to ensure that, in future, we have among the best teams in the world. 

In the fourth place, the government's Intercalary Programme is aimed at restoring state administration throughout the country and regulating land use.

State power has been restored throughout the country and what is now needed is to create the indispensable conditions, in material, technical and remunerative terms, for local administration to be well run in the interests of the people.

The government will continue to promote reflection and studies on the basis on which local government, particularly autonomous local government, should be organised and run, until a law on local government is passed.

At the same time, efforts will be stepped up to finalise the National Territorial Plan, which will determine the most rational spatial distribution of population centres and infrastructure,  ensuring the best use of our economic potentials and correcting regional imbalances.

It is within this context that master plans will also be drawn up for the modernisation and development of our cities, whose financial, banking, commercial, legal and other institutions can serve as a springboard or driving force of our development.

We have shown the world that the Republic of Angola, despite the external aggression and permanent destabilisation to which it was subjected, is a peaceful country.  Today it has relations of friendship and cooperation with nearly all the countries in the world.   It will continue to be a factor for peace and regional and world security, and a fair partner ready to share interests and cooperate on the basis of reciprocal advantages in building an ever better world for everyone.

On this memorable date, we cannot fail to express our gratitude and appreciation to all the countries, individuals and peoples who supported us in the struggle to win independence and peace.

They are many, but I cannot fail to mention Cuba , whose sons also shed their blood here in the defence of our sovereignty.

To the delegations present here, particularly the heads of state and government, I express my thanks for having agreed to share this unforgettable moment with us.

I also thank the President of the Supreme Court who yesterday, on behalf of the deputies and on your behalf, gave me the Peace and National Concord Award.

May the memory and example of those who sacrificed themselves and died for the achievement and consolidation of our national independence live forever!

LONG LIVE 11 NOVEMBER!