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WASHINGTON, 1 Dec: President Joe Biden hosted Angolan President Jo\u00e3o Manuel Gon\u00e7alves Louren\u00e7o in the Oval Office on Thursday as he sought to reaffirm his commitment to Africa even as two wars consume much of his administration\u2019s foreign policy focus.<\/p>\n
The White House meeting follows Angola\u2019s move to position itself as a strategic partner to the United States and as it has shifted away from Russian and Chinese influence under Louren\u00e7o\u2019s tenure. The visit comes as Biden appears set to break his commitment to African leaders to visit the continent this year \u2014 though senior U.S. officials have made key trips to Africa throughout 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe meet a historic moment,\u201d Biden said. \u201cAmerica is all in on Africa. We\u2019re all in with you in Angola.\u201d<\/p>\n
Louren\u00e7o praised Biden\u2019s approach to the continent and said his country is looking to develop increased economic and security ties with the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a new page that has been turned in U.S.-Africa relations and that\u2019s thanks to you, Mr. President,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lobbyists for Louren\u00e7o had petitioned Biden administration officials to set up the meeting between the two leaders for months, warning that the absence of such a high-profile engagement could jeopardize Angola\u2019s commitment to working with the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile others in southern Africa are strengthening ties to China, President Louren\u00e7o is shedding Angola\u2019s historic relationships with China (and Russia) in favor of a new and strategic partnership with the United States. This is a fundamental shift in Angolan foreign policy,\u201d lobbyist Robert Kapla wrote in April to Biden confidant Amos Hochstein, according to lobbyist disclosure records.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are informed that if President Louren\u00e7o is unable to meet with President Biden this year, there is real risk that the positive momentum both sides have generated since 2017 will begin to lose traction,\u201d Kapla wrote a week earlier to Ambassador Molly Phee, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs.<\/p>\n
The visit comes months after Biden and allies among the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations unveiled a Trans-African Corridor connecting the Angolan port of Lobito with landlocked areas of the African continent: the Kananga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the copper mining regions of Zambia. It\u2019s part of a global infrastructure program championed by Biden that is meant as a counterweight to China\u2019s Belt and Road initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201dThey\u2019re a strategic partner and a growing global voice on issues of peace and security,\u201d National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday, adding that the two leaders would discuss economic and security cooperation as well as regional and global issues.<\/p>\n
Much of Biden\u2019s recent foreign policy focus has been on Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Declaring that U.S. leadership \u201cholds the world together,\u201d the Democratic president told Americans in an Oval Office address in October that the U.S. must deepen its support of Ukraine and Israel in the middle of two vastly different, unpredictable and bloody wars.<\/p>\n
Biden pledged to visit Africa in 2023 when he hosted the continent\u2019s leaders in Washington last December, but the White House has repeatedly declined to say when he will make the trip, and there are no indications that he is set to make good on the promise before the new year. Asked Thursday by a reporter if he\u2019d visit Angola, Biden said only, \u201cI have been there, and I will be back.\u201d (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON, 1 Dec: President Joe Biden hosted Angolan President Jo\u00e3o Manuel Gon\u00e7alves Louren\u00e7o in the Oval Office on Thursday as he sought to reaffirm his commitment to Africa even as two wars consume much of his administration\u2019s foreign policy focus. The White House meeting follows Angola\u2019s move to position itself as a strategic partner to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-229754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}