The position was presented this Wednesday by the spokesperson for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Marcial Dachala, who stated that he believes that the meeting between João Lourenço and Joe Biden will boost the Lobito Corridor.
Speaking this Wednesday about the visit of João Lourenço, who is expected to be received on Thursday by the North American President in the Oval Office of the White House, Dachala said he hopes that the meeting will stimulate the democratic spirit in Angola.
"I think all Angolan democrats and we UNITA what we hope is that the President of the Republic, who is also the president of the party in power, upon returning from the USA adds a little more democratic conviction in Angola", he said.
The UNITA politician highlighted that the President, who left for the USA this Wednesday, will visit a country "that has the strength it has because it is a democratic country", with 247 years of independence and with the 46th President as maximum entity in running the country.
The celebrations of 30 years of diplomatic relations between Luanda and Washington also constitute the motto of this visit, as recalled by the UNITA spokesperson, highlighting that the first Angolan leader received at the White House was the founding leader of his party, Jonas Malheiro Savimbi, on January 28, 1986.
Marcial Dachala, also a deputy to the National Assembly, also highlighted the economic component of this visit, highlighting the announced North American financing for the Lobito Corridor, a railway concession that connects Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo) and Zambia.
"As for the economic substance of what is expected from this visit, it is centered on the Lobito Corridor for which, it seems, the US wants to invest huge amounts of money, so it is in their interest, it is in our interest and it is also in the interest of our neighbors", he stressed.
Dachala recalled that the Lobito Corridor "has the advantageous strategic situation of connecting the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic, therefore, if well worked on in its various dimensions, it can be one of the main axes of development" for Angola and neighboring countries.
He also argued that, "from the perspective of building the Angolan nation, since João Lourenço is serving his last term and Biden is a candidate for the 2024 elections", the head of state should listen to his advisors, businesspeople, political leaders and academics, before departing for the USA.
"And, as the icing on the cake, it would be good if his delegation included, for example, deputies from opposition parties who sit in the National Assembly, as Brazilian President Lula da Silva did when he visited our country", concluded the UNITA spokesperson.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement released this Wednesday, the meeting between João Lourenço and Joe Biden "constitutes one of the pillars for strengthening political-diplomatic ties" between the two countries.
