LUANDA, Angola—President Joe Biden met with Angolan President João Lourenço on Tuesday to discuss strengthening ties with the African country.
Biden first participated in the arrival ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Luanda, the capital of Angola. Following the ceremony, the two leaders held a bilateral meeting on Dec. 3, where they were expected to discuss trade, investment, infrastructure, security, and stability, as well as ways to deepen U.S.–Angolan cooperation.
This is the president’s first trip to Sub-Saharan Africa during his term and the first visit to Angola by a sitting president of the United States.
During the meeting, both leaders “highlighted the transformation of the U.S.-Angolan relationship” according to the White House.
Lourenço—speaking in Portuguese—welcomed Biden, describing this first visit by a U.S. president as a “turning point” for the relationship between the two nations. He said Angola wanted to increase economic and security cooperation, particularly in the maritime domain.
The Angolan president also mentioned the development of power grid projects, among others. He applauded Biden’s “great contribution” to the development of Angola through the Lobito Corridor project, a rail line investment project that started last year with U.S. support.
Biden said he was “very proud” of being the first U.S. president to visit Angola, and touted various development projects in the energy, communication, and agriculture sectors.
“The United States is all in on Africa” and “all in on Angola,” he said.
Biden suggested that the United States needs Angola to succeed and that investing in Africa was “not selfless.”
“The future of the world is here,” he said. “We don’t think because we are bigger and more powerful we are smarter.”
The two leaders spoke about trade and investment plans to keep both nations’ companies competitive, defend workers’ interests, and to protect and strengthen democracy in Angola and worldwide, according to the White House.
Following the meeting, Biden is expected to deliver a speech at the National Museum of Slavery.
“Together, the United States and Angola acknowledge the past horrors of slavery and its legacy,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
After arriving in Luanda on Dec. 2, Biden met with Wanda Tucker, a descendent of William Tucker, the first enslaved child born in the United States, the White House said.
“William Tucker’s parents were first brought to colonial Virginia from Angola in August 1619, aboard the Portuguese ship the White Lion. Today, Ms. Tucker is the faculty chair of psychology, philosophy, and religious studies at Rio Salado College,” the White House stated.
Infrastructure Project
On Dec. 4, the president will travel to Lobito, a port city in western Angola. He will tour the Lobito port terminal and visit a food processing factory.
Biden will also participate in the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa summit with leaders from Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Tanzania.
Biden is expected to highlight the Lobito Corridor project during his meetings. The United States has committed more than $3 billion for infrastructure efforts in Angola in support of the project.
The rail line investment project traverses Angola, the DRC, and Zambia. It connects Angola’s Lobito port to the mineral-rich areas of the DRC and Zambia’s Copperbelt. Washington considers it a major effort to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s Belt and Road Initiative in Africa.
Pardon Criticism
However, the criticisms Biden has been receiving at home for pardoning his son Hunter Biden appear to be overshadowing his message during the visit.
Biden faced questions about his decision during the arrival ceremony. He ignored a shouted question about the pardon, which came after months of the president insisting he would not pardon his son or commute the sentences in the younger Biden’s federal gun or tax cases.
Several prominent Democrats criticized the president following the pardon, including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
“While as a father I certainly understand President [Joe Biden’s] natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country,” Polis wrote on social media platform X.
Polis said that he believes the younger Biden “brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.”
Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times