LUANDA, Angola — President Joe Biden made historical past Monday as he turns into the primary American head of state to go to the southern African nation of Angola, the place he’ll showcase U.S.-backed infrastructure initiatives designed to hyperlink three nations.
In his first go to to sub-Saharan Africa, which comes on the finish of his White House tenure, Biden is ready to carry a bilateral assembly along with his Angolan counterpart, João Lourenço, within the capital, Luanda. He will even give a speech on the nation’s National Slavery Museum.
Biden will even announce initiatives associated to world well being and safety cooperation, amongst different issues, a senior administration official stated Friday.
The president can also be scheduled to fly round 300 miles from Luanda to the municipality of Lobito, the place a port is the terminus of a railway line that his administration has poured billions of {dollars} into in an effort to redevelop and lengthen a valuable minerals transit system.
“We’re getting ready the bottom for finally reaching all the best way to Tanzania, connecting the Atlantic and Indian oceans,” a second administration official stated Friday, of the system which additionally runs by Zambia and Congo.
The venture goals to advance American presence within the area, which is wealthy in vital minerals utilized in digital units, automobiles and clear vitality applied sciences and a key discipline for U.S competitors with China.
The second official additionally acknowledged that the administration’s efforts have the looks of enjoying catch-up with China, which has invested billions throughout Africa.
Two years in the past within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China owned 72% of cobalt and copper mines, in line with the China Global South Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit that tracks Chinese efforts in Africa.
Biden, who stopped off en route within the Atlantic Ocean island of Cabo Verde off the west coast of Africa for a gathering with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva, needed to postpone his visits within the wake of Hurricane Milton in order that he might oversee the federal response to the catastrophe.
U.S. funding, the senior administration official stated, is spurring financial development for folks in Africa in ways in which Chinese spending isn’t.
“It does so by specializing in attracting funding by high-standards firms dedicated to excessive requirements of labor, of gender equality, of well being and of environmental stewardship,” the official added.
Carlo Angerer reported from Luanda, Angola, and Aaron Gilchrist from Dubai.
CORRECTION (Dec. 2, 2024, 1:46 p.m. ET): A earlier model of this text misstated the place Angola is positioned. It is in southern Africa, not West Africa.
