President Biden hosted President João Lourenço of Angola at the White House on Thursday, promoting a major U.S. investment in the country as he tries to shore up his pledge to revitalize relations with African nations.
The visit marked three decades of diplomatic relations between the countries, and the two leaders discussed cooperation on critical issues such as trade, energy, climate and a $1 billion U.S.-backed infrastructure project that would aid Angola’s economy. But it came as the administration has faced questions about the United States’ commitment to the continent as plans for a long-promised visit by Mr. Biden — originally expected this year — remain up in the air.
Mr. Biden made the pledge nearly a year ago at a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, during which he convened delegations of 49 nations for the first time in eight years. At the summit, Mr. Biden declared that the United States “is all in on Africa’s future,” and made a litany of promises for how it would demonstrate its commitment, including telling leaders that he was “looking forward to seeing many of you in your home countries.”
On Thursday, Mr. Biden appeared to try to kick-start that commitment again at a critical time. The United States lags behind major countries like Russia and China in competing for influence on the continent, which has become an increasingly important sphere of global competition, with the fastest-growing, youngest population in the world.
Mr. Biden said the Oval Office meeting, the first he has hosted with an African leader since the summit, was taking place at a “historic moment.” He went on to promote Angola as an example of how his administration had made good on its promise to invest in the continent.
The United States is helping to finance a $1 billion rail project for Angola’s Lobito Corridor, which would link Angola with mineral-rich parts of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On Thursday, Mr. Biden called the project “the biggest U.S. rail investment in Africa ever,” and said it would “create jobs and connect markets for generations to come.” It is also a project in which the United States, dependent on rare-earth minerals, has a significant self-interest.
Mr. Biden said the United States was also investing another $1 billion in Africa “for a number of items,” including solar energy projects.
“Simply put, a partnership between Angola and America is more important and more impactful,” Mr. Biden said in remarks during the meeting.
He also reiterated his pledge to visit the continent, saying that he would return to Angola, the home of the first enslaved Black people who were brought to the United States in 1619 and a country he traveled to before he was president, although he did not say when.
Mr. Lourenço, who previously visited the United States as Angola’s minister of defense, told reporters after the meeting that it “was better than I expected.”
“Our relationship is at a high level,” he said. “There is a total opening by the U.S. government and Angola will win with this. Not just Angola, but the continent.”
The United States’ major rivals are not standing still, however. This year, President Xi Jinping of China visited the continent, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia held his own summit with leaders. The United States has maintained that its interest in Africa has not been motivated by competition with other nations.
During Mr. Biden’s tenure, 16 administration officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, the first lady, Jill Biden, and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, have visited the continent.
During a September visit to Angola, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III reiterated that “Africa matters.”
“I am here because Africa matters,” Mr. Austin said. “It matters profoundly to the shape of the 21st-century world. And it matters for our common prosperity and our shared security.”
But Cameron Hudson, a senior associate with the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Biden administration should not underestimate the symbolic importance of the promise the president made last year.
“I guess the question is how many cabinet secretaries on the continent is equal to one president picking up the phone, or one president hosting an African head of state, or one president traveling to the continent?” Mr. Hudson said.
“I think the sentiment from within the African community is that the reality is falling far short of the rhetoric,” he said. “The rhetoric was soaring at the African leaders summit last year, and the reality is somewhere much closer to Earth.”
