On Wednesday 15 January, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jozef Síkela, presented his priorities for EU cooperation with Angola, with the Lobito Corridor, a strategic transport route in Africa, in his sights.
“Creating new jobs in Angola, improving education, or developing sustainable electricity production, while also creating new opportunities for European companies and ensuring reliable supplies of mineral resource. These are the main priorities of our cooperation”, he stated on X.
Mr Síkela said he wanted to advance EU-Angola cooperation at an Economic Forum of the Mouvement des Entreprises de France.
Through the Global Gateway strategy, the EU’s partnership with Angola includes support for environmental protection, improvements to the agricultural system, the development of renewable energy and reforms to the judicial system.
The Lobito Corridor is also in the Commissioner’s sights. Investments and soft support measures are aimed in particular at supporting the development of railways and transport along the Corridor in order to encourage trade and transit.
The road links the port of Lobito, on the coast of Angola, to inland regions rich in natural resources, notably in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, thereby supporting economic links between these landlocked countries in Central and Southern Africa and the global market via the Atlantic.
Last December, during a visit to Angola, the outgoing US President, Joe Biden, announced a new investment of $600 million dollars in a vast railway project, also with the aim of countering the influence of China. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)