CNN
—
President Joe Biden departs for Angola on Sunday night, fulfilling a two-year commitment to visit Africa. The trip is aimed at highlighting U.S. investments in the continent that the president oversees as China deepens its expansion into the region.
Biden’s three-day visit to oil-rich Angola comes at the end of his presidential term as he prepares to hand over power to President-elect Donald Trump in January. The trip is another opportunity for Biden to strengthen ties with America’s key partners in Africa as the continent prepares for the return of President Donald Trump, who has made derogatory comments about African countries.
When Biden arrives in the capital Luanda on Monday, he will be the first sitting president to visit sub-Saharan Africa since then-President Barack Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia in 2015. It will also be the first time a US president will visit Angola, a country that Biden has sought to strengthen ties with in recent years.
While welcoming African leaders to Washington for the 2022 summit, Biden vowed to visit the continent next year, but ultimately missed that deadline. He had planned a trip to Angola this October, but it was postponed due to the devastating hurricanes that hit the United States.
Biden’s visit will see investment in the Lobito Corridor, an 800-mile U.S.- and European-backed rail project aimed at facilitating the movement of critical minerals for export from Africa’s interior to ports in western Angola. emphasized.
The initiative is central to the Biden administration’s efforts to increase investment in Africa to outpace U.S. influence and blunt China’s growing influence in the region. Over the past decade, the Chinese government has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects across the continent through its Belt and Road Initiative. In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $50 billion in financial and military aid to the continent.
At the same time, Russia is seeking to expand its influence in Africa. In March, the commander of U.S. Africa Command warned Congress that Russia is aggressively seeking to expand its influence among African countries and that it is “at a tipping point” where some countries could fall under its influence.
While China and Russia are making inroads on the continent, a senior administration official previewing the trip said Biden would “bring us back to the battlefield” by “offering this alternative” to China through U.S.-backed investments. he claimed.
“That’s the choice that countries in the region now have: ‘Do we have to accept investment from China with its low standards and child labor and corruption, but is there another option to compare it to? ‘I’m not paying attention to that,’ he said. said a senior official. “This is what President Biden wants to do: transform our relationships in the region and provide a different and higher standard of investment.”
The Biden administration is shifting its Africa strategy from development aid and philanthropy to investing in specific countries, the official said. Officials have indicated that Biden’s team believes the policy will last throughout future administrations.
“Obviously, I can’t speak for the incoming administration, but I think there’s good reason to assume some of these efforts will continue,” said another senior administration official who previewed the trip. , added about the Lobito Corridor: It’s about “paying dividends to all of us.”
The United States views Angola as an important partner to collaborate on regional economic, technological, and scientific efforts, and Angola has played an important mediating role in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Seeking to highlight his commitment to Africa, Biden hosted Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lorenzo in the Oval Office in 2023 to tout U.S. investments in the Lobito Corridor and solar energy projects.
“Simply put, the Angolan-American partnership is more important and more impactful,” Biden said.
Mr. Biden departs for Africa on Sunday night and will spend Monday through Wednesday in Angola, where he will hold bilateral talks with Mr. Lorenzo and meet with members of civil society.
Biden will also deliver remarks that will “describe our countries’ shared history and highlight the growth and enduring strength of our relationship in Angola and across the continent,” the second administration official said.
The official said the president announced a new global health security partnership on infectious diseases, agribusiness, security cooperation, and the preservation of Angola’s cultural heritage, including U.S. support for the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing of Angola’s Kwanzaa Corridor. They are planning to make an announcement.
Officials declined to say whether this would be Biden’s last overseas trip as president. His trip to Africa comes on the heels of attending major summits in Brazil and Peru, where Trump’s influence was already being felt among world leaders.
In an interview with the New York Times ahead of Biden’s trip to Angola, Lorenzo said he was “ready to work” with Trump at the White House.
“We are not concerned about the changes that have taken place in the US administration. This is not dramatic,” Lorenzo said. “That’s normal in a democracy. Power comes and goes.”
He added: “He is the person that Angola and all countries of the world must work with if we are to maintain our relationship with the United States.”
