Waterloo Region welcomed a high-ranking official from the African country of Angola for a special visit. Consul General Mateus Barros José toured Communitech in Kitchener on Monday morning to see what the area’s technology sector has to offer his home country. “We know Kitchener has a big hub. They’re doing well in AI technology and innovation. So, Angola is visiting to identify opportunities or business,” José told CTV News. The nation is described as one of Canada’s more “modest” trading partners, but the two countries have been talking more lately. Monday’s visit comes less than a week after Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Angolan President João Lourenço at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “Today, now with the situation of bilateral discussion of trade issues in Canada with the U.S., for us, it’s also an opportunity to look at the vision that Canada shows to look at the market,” José said. Canada’s relationship with the African country is longstanding, stemming back almost 50 years. The consul general and his team began the day in Kitchener before heading to Cambridge for other tours, all surrounding the tech sector. “Waterloo’s been on the innovation map for the last 40-plus years and that even before cell phones became part of our pocket, there was things like [Research in Motion] happening,” said Dr. Stephen Foster, a world-renowned Canadian surgeon who attended the tour. Dr. Foster was born in Brantford but moved at a young age, and has spent much of his life in Africa. “I went to Angola as a medical student in ’71, having grown up in the next-door country of what was longtime Northern Rhodesia before it became Zambia in ’64,” he explained. While his specialty lies in the medical field, he said collaboration between sectors is key when working to grow and modernize healthcare in Angola. “It’s a privilege to come and discover the quantum steps that have been taken in these last 10/20 years. So, the joy of thinking, ‘What would it look like if Canadian innovation became part of our health care story? What would that help us do?’” he questioned. No official partnerships were penned in the region on Monday, but the consul general said he’s looking forward to the future of the relationships and the innovation it can foster.
