Benguela — The Multilateral Summit on the Lobito Corridor plays an important role in attracting investments to boost this US-backed railway project, the provincial governor of Benguela, Manuel Nunes Júnior said today.
The province of Benguela is, on Wednesday, the stage for this summit, which will be attended by the Presidents of the USA, Joe Biden, of Angola, João Lourenço, of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, and the Vice President of Tanzania, Philip Mpango.
The summit’s objective is to accelerate the attraction of investments for the regional project of the Lobito Corridor, which connects the DRC and Zambia, rich in mineral resources, to the Port of Lobito, in the Atlantic Ocean.
Speaking at Paulo Teixeira Jorge Airport, in Catumbela, where heads of state are welcomed, the governor of Benguela said that the summit is, in practice, a demonstration of the transnational and even international characteristics of the Lobito Corridor.
That is why he considers it ‘a great honor and a privilege’ to receive such an important visit, namely the President of the United States, for the Multilateral Summit on this important Lobito Corridor.
‘We see this project as more than a corridor from the point of view of infrastructure. It is, above all, a corridor of development. To be more precise, it is a development pole’, he asserts.
To this end, it focused on the existing railway and port infrastructures in the Lobito Corridor, to attract investments to other areas that will provide development for the province of Benguela and for the country.
According to the governor, the investments will have repercussions in greater prosperity, more employment, and better wages for people and, therefore, well-being and quality of life.
In fact, Governor Manuel Nunes Júnior hinted that this Lobito Corridor will highlight the potential of the four provinces interconnected by the project, such as Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico.
‘They are extremely important from the point of view of agricultural production,’ he said, estimating that more than 30 percent of the country’s production derives from these provinces, which together should have about eight million inhabitants.
For this reason, he anticipates that this Lobito Corridor will be an important element to leverage agricultural production, attracting national and foreign investments to create more jobs and improve people’s lives.
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‘We are prepared and we will do everything to take all the advantages of this corridor,’ he stressed, predicting another boost for the Agriculture, Fisheries, Salt and Tourism sectors, through investments along the Lobito Corridor.
‘Now, above all, that this Catumbela airport will soon become international’, he explains.
And he adds: ‘International tourism will be easier. All this will make this Lobito Corridor become a corridor for the development of the country’.
In 2023, trade between the United States and Angola totaled approximately $1.77 billion, making Angola United States’ fourth-largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
Angola and the United States established formal diplomatic relations in 1993.
This visit fulfills Joe Biden promise to visit Sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency and aims to strengthen the Lobito Corridor project, which connects the resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the Angolan port of Lobito, in the Atlantic Ocean. JH/CRB/DOJ
