US President Joe Biden will visit Angola on October 14. This will be the first time that a US head of state has visited the country, according to a publication in the Negócios newspaper.

Biden's trip is a diplomatic victory for the Angolan president, João Lourenço, who has been on a path of rapprochement with the United States.

During João Lourenço's visit to the United States in November last year, Biden promised to visit Angola. The fact that he had given up on running for the White House again meant that October was, in practice, the only window of opportunity for him to make good on his promise.

Joe Biden's trip places Angola at the center of the cold war between the United States and China that has been intensifying on the African continent.

According to the same publication, in recent weeks João Lourenço had already given unmistakable signals that pointed to a rapprochement with Washington. First, he said the unsaid and decided to cancel his trip to Beijing, where he was due to take part in the China-Africa Cooperation Forum (FOCAC), which took place between September 4 and 7. Lourenço broke his promise made in March to Xi Jinping to attend the event and the choice made the Chinese "furious".

Also this month, Angola announced that it will host the United States-Africa Business Summit in 2025. The agreement to hold this event was signed by Agostinho Van-Dunem, Angola's ambassador to the US, and Florizelle Liser, president of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA).

"The cancellation of João Lourenço's trip to Beijing, which exasperated Xi Jinping, and the consequent announcement of Biden's visit to Angola, are two facts that are linked to each other," stresses the Negócios newspaper, quoting a source familiar with the process.

Angola's position as a major player in the ongoing cold war between the US and China also gives it growing regional influence and shows the geostrategic relevance of supply chains. The US is betting on the rehabilitation of the Lobito Corridor, which will link Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to global markets.

"This unprecedented project is the United States' largest-ever rail investment in Africa and will create jobs and connect markets for generations to come," Biden said in November last year, stressing that it was an investment of more than a billion dollars.

(Photo DR)