President Joe Biden’s trip to Africa in the coming weeks will highlight the mineral-rich region’s growing importance and his administration’s financial support of a massive, cross-country rail project there that could extend the world’s reach into mines pumping out copper, cobalt and other electric vehicle battery metals.
Biden is slated to travel to Angola from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4, where he’ll meet with Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço and fulfill his vow to visit the continent, marking the first visit by a sitting president since the Obama administration.
Senior administration officials told reporters on a call Tuesday that the Biden administration has championed African leadership on boards across the world, supported a record number of top officials visiting the country and is following through on a vow made in 2022 to invest $55 billion in the region.
“Two years later … we’ve invested more than 80 percent of that commitment, and these are historic investments that have strengthened our ties and created real economic opportunities for communities across the continent,” said Frances Brown, special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council.
