Angola's President João Lourenço has called for African diamond-producing countries to establish common mechanisms to protect the continent's diamond industry from growing competition from synthetic diamonds.

Speaking during the inaugural Namibia-Angola Bi-National Commission in Luanda, Lourenço said African producers, including Namibia, Angola and Botswana, must work together to safeguard the value of natural diamonds and protect their economic interests.

He warned against synthetic diamonds influencing market prices and competing with natural diamonds in quality, stressing the need for a coordinated African response to protect the resource.

Lourenço also welcomed the launch of the African Credit Rating Agency in Mauritius, saying it would provide a more realistic assessment of African economies' credit risks and help countries access development financing under more favourable conditions.

His counterpart President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah called for Africa to take greater control of its natural resources, saying countries have a duty to ensure these resources translate into tangible economic benefits for their citizens.

She said Namibia's efforts to add value to its natural resources and move away from serving merely as an extraction base for foreign markets were necessary to chart a new development path.

Nandi-Ndaitwah added that natural resource beneficiation should support domestic resource mobilisation, allowing African countries to reduce their dependence on the existing international financial architecture.