Luanda - The year 2024, which has just come to an end, made history with the first visit of a President of the United States to Angola, in full preparations for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of National Independence.
By António Tavares, ANGOP journalist
The visit of Joe Biden, the 46th President of the most powerful nation in the world, was the culmination of the results of the agenda developed by the Head of State, João Lourenço, during the past year.
Biden visited the country from December 2 to 4, being the culmination of hard work by the President of the Republic, which began in 2023, when he was received at the White House by his US counterpart.
This is the first visit by a US Head of State to Angola since National Independence on November 11, 1975, and also Joe Biden's first to Africa since the beginning of his term in 2021.
Biden assumed the American presidency in January 2021 and is preparing to leave the White House to his successor, Donald Trump, in the same month of 2025.
His historic visit represents a diplomatic victory for João Lourenço, as a result of years of intense diplomatic efforts, since, since the beginning of his mandate in 2017, he has defined as one of the main objectives of his foreign policy to strengthen relations with the US.
Since then, systematic and consistent work has followed, with trips to Washington in 2021 and 2023, when he met with Biden, and the following year to Dallas to attend the 16th US/Africa Summit.
Three main objectives were set for the trip, such as enhancing U.S. leadership in trade, investment, and infrastructure in Africa, highlighting Angola's regional leadership and global partnership on a broad spectrum of pressing issues, including trade, security, and health, as well as highlighting the remarkable evolution of relations between the two countries.
In fulfillment of his three-day visit to Angola, Joe Biden met with President João Lourenço and visited the Museum of Slavery.
The second stage of the visit was carried out in the province of Benguela, with a focus on the Lobito Corridor and food security, having participated in a summit on this important transport infrastructure.
At the meeting, held at the Grupo Cart Industrial Complex, there were, in addition to Biden and host João Lourenço, statesmen from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, Zambia (Hakainde Hichilema) and Tanzania (Vice-President Philip Mpango), as well as partners from the Lobito Corridor.
Economic diplomacy
In 2024, as he has done since he began his term, João Lourenço, as the leader of the country's foreign policy, took Angolan diplomacy to various parts of the globe, opening a new page for cooperation for Angola, mobilizing potential investors for renewed interest in Angolan territory.
He went to the city of Prague in February for an official visit to the Czech Republic, at the invitation of his counterpart, Petr Pavel.
The highlights of the official programme of this mission were the talks between the presidential delegations of the two countries, the visit to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, as well as the meeting with the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala.
The Angolan President has sought to diversify the countries with which Angola has relations, in addition to those that are already traditional. This is the case of South Korea, with great industrial potential.
In Seoul, he was received in April by his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, and participated in the Economic Forum, with a view to strengthening bilateral relations.
The two countries signed four legal instruments in the areas of Trade, Health, Public Order and Diplomacy.
Always with the aim of strengthening partnerships, the President of the Republic had already traveled to China a month earlier.
The visit of the Head of State revitalized the political-diplomatic relations between the two nations and set the stage for the mobilization of private investment and improvement of prospects in the field of financial relations, both at the private and public levels.
Sectors with greater development potential such as Agriculture, Industry and Mineral Resources were the main focus in the field of Chinese direct investment.
Also in April, João Lourenço was in Portugal, for the commemorative ceremonies of the fiftieth anniversary of the 25th of April, at the invitation of his Portuguese counterpart, Marcelo de Sousa.
He spoke at the evocative session of the event, held at the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon, in the presence of the other Heads of State of the Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) and Timor-Leste, whose independence is linked to the 25th of April 1974.
He held a first working meeting with Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, at the São Bento Palace, which resulted in the visit to Angola, in July, of this Portuguese ruler, at the head of an extensive delegation.
In May 2024, he attended the 16th U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Dallas as first vice chair of the African Union (AU).
It was another opportunity to attract American private investment to the continent, and Angola, in particular, thus contributing to the integrated development process of African countries.
The appreciation of the African continent in the route of the various visits received and carried out by the President of the Republic stands out.
There is also the reactivation of the Bilateral Cooperation Commissions and the signing of legal instruments with some African countries of strategic interest.
In this sense, as part of the strengthening of friendship and cooperation with Côte d'Ivoire, João Lourenço was in Abidjan, in July 2024, for the signing of 14 agreements in the most varied areas of the political, diplomatic, economic, commercial, technological and socio-cultural life of the two countries.
In December, he was welcomed in Pretoria, South Africa, for a state visit, as part of the strengthening of cooperation between the two countries.
Presidents João Lourenço and Cyril Ramaphosa held talks with ministerial delegations from the two countries and participated in an economic forum that served to identify business opportunities in each of the economies.
At the meeting, cooperation in various areas was discussed, namely energy, defence, higher education, education, culture and youth and sports, and two agreements were signed in the fields of higher education and culture.
The last visit of the year, in the field of economic diplomacy, took place at the end of December, to the Sultanate of Oman, to cement a recent partnership.
The trip responded to an invitation from Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik Al Said, with whom João Lourenço held a private meeting after his arrival in Muscat, before the start of official talks.
The two leaders highlighted how cooperation between Oman and Angola is developing, with effective and high-impact actions taking place quickly.
João Lourenço's visit allowed the two countries to sign four legal instruments to strengthen cooperation in the financial and diamond fields.
This is the Memorandum of Understanding between the Angolan Ministry of Finance and the Investment Bank of Oman, which establishes the framework for strategic cooperation to strengthen economic and financial ties between the two countries.
It was also agreed to acquire stakes in the diamond mines of Catoca and Luele, in Angola, and a partnership between the Angolan National Diamond Company (ENDIAMA) and the Omani Sovereign Wealth Fund, through the Maden Investment Group.
The results of this mission to the Middle East include a memorandum of understanding for the exploration of cooperation opportunities in the energy sectors between the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas of Angola and Masdar Energy Group.
With the Maden Investment Group, work was completed for its entry into the prospecting, exploration and marketing of diamonds in the Luele and Catoca projects, in Lunda-Sul.
G20
It is also worth noting the participation, for the first time, of the Angolan President in a meeting of the G20 Summit, in its 19th edition, held between 18 and 19 November, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), at the invitation of his counterpart, Lula da Silva, with whom he held a working meeting.
The Angolan statesman received the presidents of the European Council and the African Development Bank (AfDB), respectively, Charles Michel and Akinwumi Adesina, as well as the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, and the CEO of the EMS Pharmaceutical Industrial Group, Carlos Sánchez.
At this summit, which brought together 55 delegations from 40 countries and 15 international organizations, João Lourenço spoke on the themes of the 'Global Alliance to Fight Hunger and Poverty' and 'Energy Transition'. ART/IZ/DOJ
