Angola’s LUANDA On Monday, President Joe Biden will become the first American head of state to travel to Angola, a country in West Africa, to highlight infrastructure initiatives supported by the United States that would connect three countries.
Biden will meet bilaterally with his Angolan counterpart, Jo o Louren o, in Luanda, the country’s capital, on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa, which coincides with the end of his White House term. Additionally, he will speak at the National Slavery Museum in the nation.
Among other things, a senior administration source said Friday that Biden will also unveil efforts pertaining to international security cooperation and global health.
Additionally, the president will go around 300 miles by plane from Luanda to the municipality of Lobito, where a port serves as the endpoint of a railroad line that his administration has invested billions of dollars in to expand and renovate a transit system for precious minerals.
A second administration official stated on Friday that the system, which also passes through Zambia and Congo, is getting ready to eventually connect the Atlantic and Indian oceans all the way to Tanzania.
The initiative intends to increase American presence in the area, which is a vital area for US competitiveness with China and rich in vital minerals used in automobiles, electronics, and clean energy technology.
The administration’s efforts seem to be catching up to China, which has invested billions of dollars throughout Africa, the second source also admitted.
According to the China Global South Project, a U.S.-based charity that monitors Chinese activities in Africa, two years ago, China owned 72 percent of the cobalt and copper mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Biden had to postpone his trips following Hurricane Milton in order to supervise the federal reaction to the catastrophe. Biden had already stopped off en route at the Atlantic Ocean island of Cabo Verde off the west coast of Africa for a meeting with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva.
The senior administration official claimed that American investment is boosting Africans’ economies in ways that Chinese spending does not.
According to the official, it accomplishes this by concentrating on luring investment from high-caliber businesses dedicated to upholding strict labor, gender equality, health, and environmental stewardship standards.
Aaron Gilchrist reported from Washington, D.C., while Carlo Angerer reported from Luanda, Angola.
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