After a first day marked by a meeting with the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, and the signing of bilateral agreements and a second focused on the economic aspect of the visit, Luís Montenegro leaves Luanda this Thursday to discover the most emblematic development project in the country. country.
With financing from the United States and the European Union, the Lobito Corridor connects the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico and integrates as infrastructure the port of Lobito, the Mineiro Terminal, Catumbela airport and the Railway of Benguela, extending the connection to the mining areas of the Copperbelt, in Zambia, and Katanga, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, promoting faster exports of cobalt, copper and other ores from these countries.
According to the Portuguese Government, Portugal has been fighting to make Angola a priority of the European Union's Global Gateway initiative, mobilizing international financing so that Portuguese companies can establish themselves along the corridor.
The Portuguese Prime Minister will be received in Benguela by the governor of this province, Luís Neves, with whom he will have a brief meeting.
This will be followed by visits to the future facilities of the Consulate General in this city, a project that should be completed by the end of 2025 and that the Government considers "fundamental to strengthening the Portuguese presence in Angola", which could support companies and the community Portuguese in this part of the country.
Montenegro will then visit the largest solar photovoltaic plant in Angola, Central Solar do Biópio, the port of the city of Lobito, before arriving at the Caminhos de Ferro de Benguela and the Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR).
The LAR consortium, made up of Trafigura, Mota-Engil and Vecturis, obtained in 2022 the concession for the operation, management and maintenance of the Lobito railway corridor, which runs through Angola to the African copper belt, and the mineral terminal at the port of Lobito , for a period of 30 years.
Luís Montenegro will return to Luanda at the end of the afternoon, where he will have military honors at the farewell ceremony, at the Presidential Palace, with a meeting with the press and a dinner hosted by the Portuguese ambassador in Luanda, Francisco Alegre Duarte, before flying at night. to Lisbon, where he will arrive in the early hours of Friday.
