Mozambican Renamo MP Ivone Soares said on Tuesday in Luanda that Angola and Mozambique have common challenges in maintaining peace and ensuring that institutions are strong and respect the law and the Constitution.

According to the member of parliament from Renamo, the main opposition party in Mozambique, one of the common challenges for both Portuguese-speaking countries is "peacekeeping", because they have "a similar history".

"We have the challenge of keeping the peace, the challenge of ensuring that the institutions are strong, that the institutions can respect the dictates of the law and the constitutions of our countries," said Ivone Soares, quoted by LUSA.

Speaking on the sidelines of the International Conference on Peace, Security and Development, where she was one of the speakers invited by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA, opposition), Ivone Soares also highlighted the multiparty nature of the Angolan parliament.

For the Mozambican MP, Angola and Mozambique still have the challenges of ensuring that "popular participation, in political terms," is a reality for youth and women, as well as for "all those who have a say, especially minority groups, and also ensuring that they have representation in state institutions".

The Renamo guest, who spoke at the conference about "the role of civil society, youth and women in countries consolidating democracy", highlighted the "interesting" peace process in Angola and the creation of the multi-party parliament.

"I think it's an interesting process, because you have a multi-party parliament where Angolans can express their concerns and present their views on various aspects of governance," he said.

The conference, held as part of the celebrations for the 42nd anniversary of the International Day of Peace, addressed the role of parliament in consolidating democracy and political accountability, the social doctrine of the church for sustainable development, the role of political actors in guaranteeing peace, stability and development, among other topics.