President Joe Biden touted his administration’s ties with Angola, including investment in a railway to deliver critical minerals across the continent as he met with Angolan President João Lourenço on Tuesday.

The two leaders discussed “significant trade and investment opportunities that keep our companies competitive and defend the interests of workers,” according to a readout of the call provided by the White House.

A centerpiece of those efforts is the Lobito project, a railway being revamped with the aim of expediting the shipment of critical minerals for technology such as electric vehicles from the Democratic Republic of Congo to a port on Angola’s Atlantic coast. The initiative is a U.S. effort to stem Chinese influence on the continent.

Biden “underscored the significance of the more than $3 billion in U.S. commitments to infrastructure projects in Angola in support of the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, a multinational initiative to help accelerate inclusive economic growth and connect markets along the Corridor to the world,” the White House said.

Biden did not mention China by name during opening remarks before reporters at the start of the meeting, but he mentioned the impact of the initiative, saying that it would build “railroads, ocean to ocean” to “connect the continent.”

Angola’s oil industry — which accounts for some 90% of the country’s export revenue — sells more than half its output to China. And Beijing has pledged more than $1 billion to refurbish an alternate route for minerals and other cargo east into Tanzania and the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam—a line originally built under Mao Zedong.

The International Development Finance Corp. has approved $553 million to help upgrade the Lobito railway.

Biden is scheduled to travel to the region on Wednesday to meet with Lourenço as well as the leaders of Congo, Tanzania and Zambia.

Under Lourenço, who became president in 2017, Angola has sought to reduce its dependence on China.

The U.S. has provided $2.9 billion in financing in Angola for its energy, infrastructure and telecommunications sectors, according to the White House.

Biden and Lourenço on Tuesday also discussed strengthening democracy in Angola and around the world and “celebrated the continued growth of the U.S.-Angola defense relationship,” according to the White House.

Biden is the first U.S. president to visit Africa south of the Sahara in nearly a decade and the first sitting U.S. leader to visit Angola. His landmark Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022 is centered around the proliferation of electric vehicles and clean energy.

He promised to visit the continent after hosting a 2022 summit with African leaders in Washington. But his trip was clouded by two factors: his late Sunday evening announcement that he pardoned his son Hunter Biden and last month’s election of President-elect Donald Trump.

Domestically, the pardon sparked bipartisan criticism after Biden had earlier maintained that he wouldn’t issue one for his son. The president hasn’t taken reporter questions since the Sunday announcement before he departed to Africa. He ignored shouted questions on Tuesday.

Internationally, it’s unclear whether Trump will continue Biden’s foreign policies, including in Africa.

Later Tuesday, Biden is scheduled to visit Angola’s National Slavery Museum. The U.S. is giving $229,000 to restore the building’s galleries. Angola was a central hub of the transatlantic slave trade.

--------

With assistance from Matthew Hill.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.