The train drivers and conductors training centre was one of the points visited by a diplomatic delegation travelling along the Lobito Corridor on a trip organised by the US Embassy in Angola.
Speaking to journalists after a brief visit to the centre, Nicolas Gregoir highlighted the importance of starting to train 100 train drivers and conductors at the end of last year to ensure all safety issues, and added that drivers and switchmen (railway professionals) are also being trained in Lobito.
Certified Portuguese companies have been contracted to provide training, and the centre has capacity for around 200 trainees and accommodation for 64 people.
The Portuguese ambassador Francisco Alegre Duarte, one of the diplomats taking part in the visit, highlighted that this consortium, which is made up of three European companies – the Portuguese Mota-Engil, the Swiss Trafigura and the Belgian Vecturis – is the backbone of the Lobito Corridor.
In addition to the concessionaire ensuring the operation and maintenance of the railway, it has a human capital training component that is “decisive” and contributes to economic diversification, he pointed out.
“So that this corridor is more than just a mineral transport corridor, but also has benefits for agriculture and other sectors”, he stressed.
The visit to the Lobito Corridor, a railway infrastructure that crosses Angola from the port of Lobito to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, also included the Halo Trust, a British demining non-governmental organization, and the Caala logistics platform, to showcase some of the emblematic projects that are being developed by European and North American companies.
The US intends to demonstrate its support for “promoting prosperity through industrial development, road and rail infrastructure, the supply chain of critical minerals, humanitarian demining and commercial activity in the agricultural sector throughout Angola”, according to a statement from the US embassy.
US Chargé d'Affaires Ambassador James Story is accompanied by 17 European and other ambassadors, as well as senior Angolan officials and business leaders.
