AmCham Angola Monthly — Public Edition — January 2026

AmCham Angola opens 2026 with a standing tax dialogue and a clear agenda

In January the Chamber opened a year-long calendar of monthly meetings with Angola’s tax authority, set its priorities for the business environment and deepened its working relationship with the U.S. Embassy in Luanda.

AmCham Angola began 2026 with structure. On 14 January we opened a full-year calendar of monthly meetings with the Administração Geral Tributária (AGT), giving companies a predictable route to the tax authority, and our Sub-Tax Committee began turning members’ experience into a single agenda. We set the Chamber’s priorities for the year, with the business environment first: tax, access to foreign exchange, contract sanctity, the rule of law and simpler procedures. With the U.S. Embassy in Luanda we held a briefing on U.S. visa rules and agreed a monthly dialogue. Founded in 2017 and affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, we work to make Angola a more predictable place to invest.

14 January

Twelve dates with the tax authority

AmCham Angola held the first of its 2026 monthly meetings with AGT online on 14 January. Twelve dates are now fixed: the second Wednesday of each month, online or in person, with February’s session at AGT itself. For companies, the value is predictability: a known date each month to put practical tax-administration questions directly to the authority and follow them up.

20 January

Members’ experience becomes an agenda

On 20 January our Sub-Tax Committee mapped the issues companies want to take to AGT: electronic invoicing and the AGT portal, VAT refunds, automated audits and data cross-checks, Tax ID (NIF) blocking procedures, the Special Contribution on Foreign Exchange Operations, and the 5% minimum customs duty introduced by the 2026 Budget Law. Members and their advisers are refining these into one prioritised agenda for the dialogue with AGT.

15 January

The business environment comes first

The Chamber’s 2026 priorities put the business environment first: tax administration, access to foreign exchange, contract sanctity, the rule of law and faster procedures. We will consolidate partnerships with the Presidency, AIPEX, the Ministry of Energy and Water (MINEA), the Migration and Foreigners Service (SME), AGT and UNDP, and open channels with customs, the Banco Nacional de Angola and MINFIN on foreign exchange.

January

Larger goals for the U.S.–Angola relationship

The Chamber has also set out larger goals it wants to help deliver: progress under the “Angola as an Energy Hub” agreement between AmCham Angola and MINEA, critical minerals, access to U.S. correspondent banks, direct flights, a working carbon-credit regime and a U.S.–Angola bilateral tax agreement. A further letter to the President of the Republic with members’ practical proposals is in preparation, and we are working with the SME to streamline work-visa processes beyond oil and gas.

13–15 January

Visas, flights and a monthly dialogue with the U.S. Embassy

On 13 January the U.S. Embassy in Luanda and AmCham Angola held a joint session on U.S. visa regulations. On 15 January the Embassy briefed the Chamber on the Open Skies Agreement and on efforts to establish direct flights between Angola and the United States. We also agreed to set up a monthly series of meetings with the Embassy’s Political-Economic and Commerce sections from February, putting business priorities and U.S. commercial objectives on a regular footing.

January

Re-energising the U.S.–Angola Working Group

With the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, of which AmCham Angola is an affiliate, we aim to re-energise the U.S.–Angola Working Group in 2026 across eight sectors: energy and infrastructure; digital economy; healthcare; banking, finance and capital markets; agriculture and sustainability; light industry and manufacturing; culture and tourism; and the Lobito Corridor and critical minerals.

January

“A Hora da AmCham” opens its 2026 season

Our weekly programme on Rádio LAC opened 2026 with the second part of our interview with Dr. Paulino Gerónimo, Chairman of ANPG, and, on 28 January, a programme with U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Shannon Nagy Cazeau. The 2025 season, 18 programmes including coverage of the 17th U.S.–Africa Business Summit in Luanda, is now on YouTube.

January

First Thursday: monthly networking from February

The Chamber is launching First Thursday, a series of monthly networking events from February to December 2026. The first, in February, is being organised with UNDP. Early-bird sponsorship is now open: each of eleven sponsors will host and lead one event during the year, bringing together executives, officials and partners.

• Tax administration now has a fixed monthly meeting point between AGT and business.
• The 2026 agenda targets what investors weigh most: foreign exchange, contract sanctity, visas and flights.
• U.S.–Angola commercial ties gain a monthly Embassy channel and a renewed Working Group.

• February — First Thursday networking event, organised with UNDP: the first of the 2026 series

The American Chamber of Commerce in Angola (AmCham Angola) is a non-profit membership organisation founded in July 2017. Its mission is to develop commerce between the United States and Angola, to promote the interests of U.S. companies and of its members, and to improve Angola's business environment. It receives no financial assistance from any government, is governed by an elected Board of Directors and works through its committees and forums: we advocate, connect, inform and fight for Angolan and U.S. business growth.

AmCham Angola is an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., the world's largest business organisation, founded in 1912 under President William Taft and representing more than three million companies. That affiliation links members in Angola to the U.S. Chamber's networks, including the U.S.–Angola Working Group, and places AmCham Angola among the 21 American Chambers of Commerce in Africa.

What the Chamber does: inward and outward trade missions; networking breakfasts, receptions and business luncheons with ministers, officials and industry leaders; advocacy through position papers, policy comments and structured dialogue with the Angolan Government; off-the-record CEO forums; conferences, workshops and webinars; and the weekly radio programme “A Hora da AmCham” on Rádio LAC.

Source: www.amchamangola.org

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