João Lourenço, in an interview with The New York Times as part of the visit that the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, is carrying out from December 2nd to 4th, highlighted that when an American head of state visits a country it sends a sign of confidence to the American business.
"Basically, President Joe Biden is opening the way for American private investment to Angola. So far, what we have seen over the decades is that American investment in Angola is more focused on the oil sector and we hope that with this visit there will be greater diversification of American private investment in Angola", he stressed.
Asked whether Joe Biden's departure takes away any meaning from this visit, João Lourenço rejected this thesis, "because until January 20th of next year, the American President is President Joe Biden", in addition to "in relations between States there may be changes in the stones on the chessboard, but when relations are between States they are, in principle, guaranteed to continue".
"We are not worried about the fact that President Joe Biden is at the end of his mission," he said, highlighting that from January onwards not only Angola, but the rest of the world will have to work with Donald Trump "if it wants to maintain relations with the United States of America", refusing to comment on Donald Trump's future relationship with Africa and his policies.
According to João Lourenço, with President Biden relations between the two countries "took a very big leap".
"As far as Angola is concerned, we are going to work towards not only maintaining, but preferably even further improving the level of relations, friendship and cooperation that we have between Angola and the United States of America. It all depends on the men, our side will make this effort and we think that, in principle, we will also be reciprocated by the American side", he added.
João Lourenço said that Angola intends to attract American investments for the development of its economy, as well as "opening the doors of the American market to Angolan investors".
"For all these reasons we necessarily had to take this step, you may have sinned just by being late, but as they say, better late than never", he highlighted.
The head of state said that the rapprochement with the United States of America, since the time he was secretary general of the MPLA and minister of Defense, is not of personal interest, but because "someone had to step forward and wait the other party's reaction".
"Whether we were well received or not, and in this case, I must say that on my visit to the Pentagon I was very well received, this encouraged me, now in another position, as head of state, to continue with this relationship", he stressed.
Regarding the participation of the United States of America in the Lobito Corridor, João Lourenço highlighted its strategic importance, not only for Angola, for Africa, but for the world, due to the fact that it connects the Indian and Pacific oceans, shortening the connection between Asia and America.
According to João Lourenço, the Lobito Corridor also brings advantages to the country as "it will boost the economic development of Angola in general, but particularly in the provinces through which the Benguela Railway passes, supporting the export of products agriculture and develop the agriculture and industrial sectors.
The head of state highlighted that China was not excluded from this Lobito Corridor project, it just did not win the public tender, which was won by a consortium of European companies.
