Two Chinese companies will invest at least US$650 million in the agricultural and food-processing sectors of Angola in the near future, local newspaper Jornal de Angola reported.

The pledges were made this month in a meeting in Beijing between several Chinese firms and an Angolan business delegation led by the Bank of Savings and Credit of Angola and the Angolan Business Corporation.

Shao Qiang, Vice-President of China Hasan International, told the newspaper that his company would fork US$500 million in building food processing plants and staff training centres in Angola. The new plants would contribute to the economic diversification of the nation from the oil industry, he added.

Wam Xan, President of Forever Green, said the Chinese firm would invest US$150 million in the fields of agriculture and food processing in Angola.

Ma Tieshan, President of Beijing Construction Engineering, also said in the meeting that the company was interested in building 40,000 social homes in Angola in a period of four years.