The American president, Joe Biden, begins this Sunday a trip to Angola with the aim of promoting the development of a corridor that will connect the Angolan port of Lobito, in the Atlantic Ocean, with the cobalt mines in Zambia and the south of the Republic. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), key to reducing dependence on China in minerals.
The railway project, known as Lobito runnerhas great strategic value for the US and Europe because it will allow them to access minerals essential for their technological development, such as cobalt, graphite and lithium, and reduce their dependence on Chinawhich has monopolized these resources for decades.
In statements to the press, Frances Brown, the president’s main advisor for the African continent, explained that one of Biden’s main objectives will be to promote the Lobito corridor as a development model that can be applied in other regions of Africa. contributing to the progress of local communities
During the trip, the president plans to deliver a speech on the relationship between the United States and Angolaunderscoring the relevance of this project, Brown added.
The development of the Lobito corridor is being promoted under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), a G7 initiative created in 2022 to countering the influence of China’s Silk Roadwhich has financed large infrastructure projects around the world.
Specifically, the project was announced in September 2023within the framework of the G20 summit in New Delhi, and since then they have raised almost 5,000 million dollars (about 4,760 million euros) in a first phase of development.
Now, a second stage will begin that includes 800 additional kilometers of railway between Angola, Zambia and the DRC, which will be added to the 1,300 kilometers already existing and in the process of modernization.
According to Helaina Matza, US coordinator for the PGII, the goal is to reduce the transit time of minerals from Zambia and the DRC to the port of Lobito from 45 days to less than a week, which will significantly impact global markets.
The relationship between the US and Angola
Another of the key moments of the trip will be Biden’s meeting with his Angolan counterpart, João Lourenço, whom he already met in 2021 and 2023. On this occasion, both leaders plan to address issues such as infrastructure, economy, climate change, regional security and strengthening democracyBrown said.
With this meeting, the White House seeks to highlight the evolution of its relationship with Angolaleaving behind the tensions of the Cold War when the United States supported a rebel movement in its fight against the Government of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
That conflict left Angola with closer ties with Russia and China than with the United States. However, in 2017, Lourenço, then Minister of Defense, visited Washington and signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States, paving the way for a strategic partnership that has made Angola one of the main American allies in Africa.
Biden’s legacy in Africa
Finally, the White House seeks to make this trip, probably one of Biden’s last before Donald Trump assumes the presidency in January 2025consolidate your legacy in Africa.
At the start of his term in 2022, Biden hosted a summit of African leaders in Washington and argued that Africa has enough political clout to influence global decision-making, including a permanent place for African Union at the G20.
Despite this approach for the continent, analysts such as Cameron Hudson, a former diplomat specializing in Africa, criticize the Administration for not having specified its proposals and consider that His strategy has remained mere promises.
For this reason, Hudson sees Biden’s trip to Angola as a mere procedure to fulfill the promise he made to visit the continent during the Washington summit of African leaders, as he writes in an article by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Biden’s visit to Angola was initially scheduled for September this year, but had to be postponed due to preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Milton in the southern United States.
Now, Biden will land in Angola this Tuesday with the hope that his vision for the continent will endure beyond his Presidency.
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