Other topics under discussion, according to a note from the State Department, will be the development of a partnership based on shared values that promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the reinforcement of mutual security and the rule of law.
In addition to the meeting with João Lourenço, Blinken, who arrived in Luanda on Wednesday night, will also meet with the head of Angolan diplomacy, Téte António, on a day that begins with a visit to the Luanda Science Center, followed by a meeting at the telecommunications operator with North American capital, Africell.
Blinken will then go to the Presidential Palace for an audience with João Lourenço, meeting at the end of the visit with the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The United States and Angola have maintained diplomatic relations for 30 years and the country was recently recognized by the Americans as a strategic partner in Africa, "fundamental for promoting the common objectives of expanding economic prosperity and access to energy, defending democracy and human rights, and the advancement of regional security", according to the State Department note.
Last year, US President Joe Biden received João Lourenço at the White House on November 30, while Angola welcomed US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Biden's envoy Amos Hochstein.
In November 2023, the USA and Angola signed the Artemis Agreements, in the area of space exploration and initiated a "bilateral open skies agreement", to facilitate air links between the two countries.
On Tuesday, several Angolan opposition leaders delivered a letter to the United States Embassy in Luanda addressed to the US Secretary of State, asking him to pressure the President, João Lourenço, to hold local elections before 2027.
The signatories of the letter ask Blinken to support a democratic state based on the rule of law in Angola and pressure the Angolan President to hold the first local elections in the country, "the only large country in the region without leaders elected at the local level", to dismantle the institutions partisan and allowing access for all political actors to public media.
Blinken's visit to Africa, visiting Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria, comes in a context in which the United States seeks to establish a position in the face of advances by Russia and China on the continent.
