US President begins a visit to the African country of Angola
US President Joe Biden arrived in Angola on Monday evening for a two-day visit, his first to an African country, and coming weeks before the end of his presidential term.
Biden, who is the first president to visit Africa since 2015, is expected to meet his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenco, on Tuesday to discuss relations between the two countries and cooperation issues between them.
Biden will also deliver a speech at the National Museum of Slavery in Luanda, and on Wednesday he will travel to the coastal city of Lobito, about 500 kilometers south of Luanda.
The city is home to a massive railway project known as the Lobito Corridor, which connects the Angolan port of Lobito to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a branch line extending to Zambia.
The project, which extends over a distance of 1,300 km, is funded by the United States and the European Union, and is expected to form a strategic link between the port of Lobito and the cobalt and copper mines, the two essential minerals for the manufacture of advanced technology products, especially smartphone batteries.
Joe Biden considers this investment to be the largest American investment in the field of railways in the African continent, and it also reflects Washington’s ambition to confront Beijing’s giant investments.
Biden, (82), was scheduled to visit Angola last October, but had to cancel the visit due to a hurricane that hit Florida.
