Dr. Alfredo Dombe, Angolan Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, visited the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (European University of the Atlantic, UNEATLANTICO) where he was welcomed by the university authorities and the Iberoamerican University Foundation (FUNIBER), an institution that promotes the articulation of the multinational space of Iberophony through educational, cultural, and technical cooperation. The Angolan high representative participated in a business meeting held at the university.
The meeting was attended by the Ambassador, the rector of UNEATLANTICO, Dr. Rubén Calderón, Dr. F. Álvaro Durántez Prados, director of Institutional Relations of FUNIBER and of the FUNIBER Chair of Ibero-American Studies and Iberophony, and Dr. Emilia Almeida, economic counselor of the embassy, and members of the Sociedad para el Desarrollo Regional de Cantabria (Association for the Regional Development of Cantabria, SODERCAN). In this context, representatives of Spanish companies from the region of Cantabria, which contributed to the construction of the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (International University of Cuanza, UNIC), an educational institution of the FUNIBER network, attended the event. This university project promoted by FUNIBER in Angola is a sister institution of UNEATLANTICO and is part of the intercontinental educational network that promotes student mobility.
The main topics discussed during the visit were educational cooperation and the professional horizons that projects such as UNEATLANTICO and UNIC create. The latter, located in the city of Cuito, in the province of Bié, is an institution committed to the development of Angolan youth and society. In turn, FUNIBER develops its mission in favor of societies and makes use of links with university centers to offer a global university education, with special emphasis on Spanish and Portuguese, speaking countries.
The ambassador and his entourage also visited the UNEATLANTICO university residence, located 500 meters from the university campus, which can accommodate 350 students and currently welcomes students of many nationalities. Dr. Dombe met with Angolan students pursuing various engineering degrees at the university.
Dr. Alfredo Dombe’s visit is the fruit of a relationship of friendship and cooperation between Spain and Angola in the context of the greater rapprochement between the countries of Iberophony. This relationship was evident in events such as the presentation of the Archiletras University of the Year Award to UNIC in 2023. The Angolan diplomat chaired a recent round table, in which FUNIBER participated directly, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the historic visit of the King and Queen of Spain to the Republic of Angola.