"One of those announcements will be about the Lobito Corridor. We have mobilized billions of dollars for that project so far, so you can imagine that the President will engage with several components of that infrastructure effort and elevate them," Frances Brown, special assistant to the President and director of African Affairs at the US National Security Council, told reporters.
In a briefing on the priorities of Biden's visit to Angola, between 2 and 4 December, Frances Brown indicated that the US leader will meet bilaterally with President João Lourenço, to deepen discussions on infrastructure, climate, peace and security, democracy and shared economic objectives.
But the main focus of the trip will be on the Lobito Corridor, a railway infrastructure that connects Angola to the mining areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia and in which the United States is “a really important member”, especially for the second phase of the project, said the coordinator of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) at the US State Department, Helaina Matza.
This phase includes the construction of 800 new kilometres of railway lines that cross Angola, Zambia and DR Congo, which will be added to the 1,300 already existing and are being renovated, Matza recalled.
The aim of the corridor, she pointed out, is to reduce the transit time from Zambia and southern DR Congo to the Angolan port of Lobito from the current 45 days to less than a week.
The coordinator stressed that these rail investments reduce land transport costs and times, open access to arable farmland and strengthen the supply chain for critical energy minerals, "boosting climate-resilient economic growth in the region." In the past 18 months, the US has mobilized almost $5 billion for the corridor itself and for "investments in new clean energy projects, including solar energy", as well as other initiatives to support the population and small farmers, Helaina Matza highlighted. The coordinator stressed that the project, “ultimately, should benefit Africa much more” and that the United States will seek “solid partnerships” that will allow it to become “a very resilient network” with the possibility of expansion in the future, whether towards the Indian Ocean or to countries such as Namibia or South Africa.
“The Lobito corridor is not just about a railway or essential minerals. It is also about the communities that are strengthened along the way, about greater access to education, about agricultural products going to market and about increases in digital connectivity,” Frances Brown noted.
The director of African Affairs announced that Biden will also make announcements related to global health security, food security and agribusiness during his visit to Angola, as well as an “important announcement on cooperation in the security sector” and “on the preservation of Angola’s rich cultural heritage.”
In 2023, trade between the United States and Angola totaled approximately $1.77 billion, making Angola Washington’s fourth-largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
“We view Angola as a strategic partner and a regional leader. Our relationship with Angola has completely transformed over the past 30 years, and that transformation has gathered pace in the past three years,” said Frances Brown.
In this sense, the director of African Affairs summarized Biden’s trip to Angola in three objectives: “to elevate U.S. leadership in trade, investment and infrastructure in Africa”; to highlight Angola’s “regional leadership and global partnership on a full spectrum of pressing issues, including trade, security and health”; and, finally, to highlight the “remarkable evolution of the U.S.-Angola relationship.”