In a statement, the Department of Defense of the United States of America (USA) states that Lloyd Austin met this Wednesday, as part of his visit to Angola on his first African tour, with President João Lourenço and the minister of Defense João Ernesto dos Santos.
In the meeting with the President, Austin addressed, in addition to the deepening of relations between the two countries in matters of Defense, regional security issues, with both agreeing to "give priority to training, maritime security, space and cyber defense", reads up in the note.
Austin thanked João Lourenço "for his leadership throughout the region and Angola as a founding member of the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation", he adds.
"The two sides agreed to establish an annual high-level defense dialogue to finalize security cooperation agreements and prioritize opportunities to strengthen defense cooperation," he concludes.
Lloyd Austin spoke this Wednesday at the Historical Archive of Luanda to an audience that included ministers, representatives of the diplomatic corps and other individuals, at the end of his first trip to Africa and after visiting Djibouti and Kenya.
During his visit to Angola, the first by a US Secretary of Defense, he highlighted that the country has become "a highly esteemed partner" for the US and a "rising leader in the region and beyond".
