This will be the first time that the Angolan Head of State will be received at the White House, since his rise to power in 2017, which raises great expectations regarding the new directions of bilateral cooperation.
For this Thursday’s meeting (30), João Lourenço brings on the agenda a wide range of topics related to the reforms implemented by the Government, with emphasis on new investment opportunities in Angola, in the most varied areas.
The meeting with Joe Biden takes place at a time when the two countries celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations and seek to consolidate their strategic partnership, in areas considered key to generating mutual benefits.
According to the White House and the Angolan Presidency, Joe Biden and João Lourenço will discuss the next steps to deepen bilateral cooperation in matters of trade, investment, climate and energy.
One of the highlights will be the implementation of President Biden’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investments (PGI) project in the Lobito Corridor, which plans to connect Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to global markets, through the Port from Lobito.
The Lobito Corridor represents a strategic and privileged space to boost the Angolan economy, taking into account its geostrategic location, which opens up great opportunities for investors, especially Americans.
The region has a set of strategic infrastructures that connect Benguela to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, with rail, air, sea and land access, making it a good option in the regional integration project.
When fully operational, the Lobito Corridor could facilitate the emergence of more sustainable economic and financial circulation for Angola and neighboring countries.
This corridor greatly favors the business of large and small companies, which will be able to use the Port of Lobito as a first-line option, instead of the ports of Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), Beira (Mozambique) or Durban ( South Africa), in the Indian Ocean.
With the expansion and modernization of the Port of Lobito, the transport of goods, which can cross the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, in just three weeks becomes faster, through the connection between the railway line and the Port of Dar-es- Salaam (Tanzania).
The Lobito Corridor has a railway line that runs from the Port of Lobito to the mineral-rich regions of DRC and Zambia, where it is already beginning to have an impact on the lives of communities living along the railway line.
The connection, made over 1,344 kilometers of railway, allows travel time to be reduced by half, to a few days, instead of weeks, facilitating the rapid transport of various goods from the Port of Lobito to the DRC.
With the potential to serve other markets in Southern Africa, the new railway line opens up opportunities to develop the agricultural sector and the food industry.
Recently, President Joe Biden and the President of the European Union (EU) Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, announced a joint commitment to support Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia in accelerating the expansion of the Lobito Corridor .
The Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment aims, essentially, to allow the reinforcement of the interconnection of the Lobito Corridor to Angola’s neighboring countries to create new economic opportunities for the country and the region.
In partnership with the three countries, the European Union and the United States of America are committed to supporting the development of the Corridor, through the launch of feasibility studies for a new expansion of the “greenfield” railway line between Zambia and Angola.
The US-EU partnership aims to modernize critical infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to join forces to generate economic benefits with its partners in Angola, DRC and Zambia.
The partnership will combine financial resources and technical expertise to accelerate the development of the Lobito Corridor, including investments in digital access and agricultural value chains.
Within this framework, the United States of America and the European Union expect to support the Governments of the three countries involved in launching pre-feasibility studies for the construction of the new Zambia-Lobito railway line.
Investments in Africa
However, in addition to the topic of the Lobito Corridor, the conversation between Joe Biden and João Lourenço may also focus on some of the topics covered at the US-Africa summit, held in Washington, in December 2022.
It is an opportunity for the two statesmen to discuss how the United States and African nations and people can continue to work together to address regional and global challenges.
In this regard, President Joe Biden stated, in December 2022, at the US-AFRICA Summit, that his administration is fully engaged with Africa.
At the time, the statesman announced that his country’s institutions will make available around 15 billion dollars for new projects, in order to serve, in the long term, to improve the lives of the population of the African continent.
In addition to these resources, Joe Biden announced a budget of almost 350 million dollars for the digital transformation of Africa, in addition to the facilitation of another 450 million dollars in financing, as a whole, including collaboration with institutions such as Microsoft.
He said the intention, with these investments, is to ensure access for 5 million Africans to the global computer network, as part of that multinational’s commitment to reach 100 million people by 2025.
These could be the dominant notes of the meeting between Joe Biden and João Lourenço, who is accompanied by the First Lady of the Republic, Ana Dias Lourenço. ELJ