President Biden, historic visit to Angola

2024-11-30 19:29:33, Kosova & Bota CNA

President Joe Biden's visit to Angola, the first by a US president to the southwest African country, will center around a rail corridor that will transport minerals from the continent's center to a developing Angolan port. As VOA correspondent Anita Powell reports, he will also emphasize the need for stability and democracy to strengthen the continent's economic growth.

The president of Angola is a well-known figure on the African continent, who has used his country's status as one of the major oil producers to expand influence and work to resolve regional conflicts.

Now President Joao Lourenco on December 2 welcomes a new and powerful friend, President Joe Biden, which will be the first visit of an American president to Angola.

Joe Biden will use the visit to highlight a major development project funded by the United States, the 1,300-kilometer "Lobito" rail corridor, which links Africa's mineral-rich interior to the southwestern port. The United States says it has raised more than $3 billion in private and public funding for the American investment in the project.

The White House says the relationship between the two countries is undergoing a "real transformation" as the United States and Angola become increasingly close partners.

"Together, the United States and Angola are working to address a broad spectrum of pressing challenges, from improving infrastructure, increasing economic opportunity and sustainable development in the region to expanding technology and scientific cooperation, strengthening peace and security." food," said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.

Some analysts say it has been too long since President Biden's 2022 promise to visit Africa. Joe Biden had originally planned to visit Angola in October, but Hurricane Milton forced him to postpone the visit.

"Given that it is coming at the end of his administration's term and the lack of record of major achievements from his engagement in Africa, I think the visit will not make much of an impact," says Cameron Hudson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Lourenco and Biden don't agree on everything. While Mr Biden's support for Israel is "ironclad", Angola's views on the issue are more in line with those of South American, African and Asian countries.

"Israel has the right to defend itself and protect the lives of its citizens, but the same right applies to the Palestinians, who have lived under occupation for decades, an unacceptable situation," the Angolan president said.

But one thing they and China agree on is the urgent need for Africa's development. China has made huge investments in the continent as part of its "One Belt, One Road" initiative.

"Over the past 11 years, Chinese enterprises have participated in the construction and renovation of over 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, nearly a thousand bridges, about a hundred ports, 66,000 kilometers of power lines and 150,000 kilometers of communication networks in various countries of the world. Africa," said Xu Jianping of China's National Development and Reform Commission.

Analysts say that this is a good positioning of China on the African continent.

While this is the first visit for President Biden to the shores of West Africa, in some ways it is also a final chapter for him. This is likely to be his last trip abroad as president of the United States./ VOA