President Biden extends support to Lobito Atlantic Railway

On a historic visit to Angola, US President Joe Biden announced a direct loan to upgrade and operate the 1,300 km rail line from Lobito port to the town of Luau on the DRC border

Marking the first time an active US President has visited the African nation, President Biden celebrated the relationship between the two countries which “has been transformed from distance to genuine warmth” and that, today, “is the strongest it’s ever been.” Continuing, he remarked how a core goal of his presidency has been to build a strong partnership with peoples and nations across Africa aimed at “achieving shared goals, bringing to bear the dynamism of America’s private sector and the expertise of our government to support aspirations of African entrepreneurs, experts, leaders both inside and outside of government.”

In the two years since the President pledged to deliver US$55bn in new investments in Africa, Biden said that government agencies and members of his cabinet have delivered US$40bn so far, along with nearly 1,200 new business deals being established between African and American companies.

The USA has reportedly invested US$3bn in Angola during President Biden’s tenancy, who noted, “We see the bonds between our countries across sectors, from clean energy to healthcare to sports.”

He added that he and his Angolan counterpart are, “engaged in a major joint project to close the infrastructure gap for the benefit of Angolans, Africans across the continent, Americans and the world. We’ll all benefit… It’s called the Lobito Corridor. We’re building railroad lines from Angola to the Port of Lobito, in Zambia and the DRC, and, ultimately, all the way to the Atlantic — from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. It’ll be the first trans-continental railroad in Africa and the biggest American rail investment outside of America.”

As such, the US International Development Finance Corporation has announced a direct loan of US$553mn that will support the anchor rail investment of the first phase of the project. This will help the project to expand and protect critical mineral supply chains while increasing rail transport capacity and reducing freight transit times and costs.

This was also joined by further commitments to the country and continent including:

• A commitment to provide up to US$150mn in political risk insurance for new water treatment plants;
• US$40mn loan to help support Africa GreenCo Group’s energy aggregation and trading business;
• US$13mn equity investment to support small and medium-sized businesses in frontier markets;
• US$6mn USAID-supported loan portfolio guaranty for Angolan microcredit company Kixicrédito S.A.;
• US$5mn loan to Community Markets for Conservation Limited in Zambia to expand its food processing business;
• US$3.4mn technical assistance grant to Pensana to help develop a rare earth mine and refining facility in Angola;
• and a US$3.2mn technical assistance grant to Chillerton in support of a green copper mining project in Zambia.