Blinken and Angola's Téte António Hold Joint Press Briefing

Excellencies, we know that you were shortly in the presidential palace at - and meeting with His Excellency João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, the President of the Republic of Angola, where surely issues of common interest were discussed; regional and international issues also were deliberated.

At this auditorium we have the Angolan media resident and the U.S. correspondent who are eager to record and publish this essential visit. I therefore ask your excellencies to summarize what was discussed, the conversation just concluded, starting with His Excellency Blinken, the Secretary of State of the United States of America, and then followed by Minister Téte António, Minister of External Relations of the Republic of Angola.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: (Inaudible.) Ah, there we go. Thank you. Thank you very much.

We started our trip in Cabo Verde. We were then in Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and now here in Angola. And I have to note at the outset that while we were in Cote d'Ivoire, I had an opportunity to participate in viewing one of the matches in the Cup of Nations, and of course as a diplomat, I would never take sides in this competition, but I have to note the extremely strong results thus far in the tournament of the Palancas Negras. (Laughter.) And we'll see what happens, but they're off to a very, very good start.

Foreign Minister Téte, thank you so much for the warm welcome today. It's wonderful to make this trip to Angola as Secretary, and I especially want to thank President Lourenço for the very productive, important conversation that we've had, all (inaudible) dedicated, and the substance of our conversation.

I'm here in Angola and here in Africa as part of this four-country trip because we see America's future and Africa's future as joined. Our peoples are joined; our prosperity and success in the future is linked. African voices are shaping this century and leading on issues of global importance, including issues that matter to both of our peoples and their lives, from shared prosperity to dealing with climate change, to building greater food security. And that's clearly true here in Angola.

At the White House in November, President Biden reaffirmed to President Lourenço that this is a historic moment for the partnership between the United States and Angola. Our relationship is stronger, it's more consequential, it's farther-reaching than at any point in our 30-year friendship. And at this transformational moment, President Biden asked me to come to Luanda to help build on and accelerate our progress.

One of the most successful and dynamic demonstrations of this partnership between our countries - and we can see it in action - is our work to expand the critical Lobito Corridor that links Angola, Zambia, and the DRC. We're doing that through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. This project has genuinely transformative potential for this nation, for this region, and - I would argue - for the world. It will spur investment in underdeveloped sectors like telecommunications and agriculture. It will secure critical mineral supply chains that are essential to the economic futures of all of our countries, our industries, our workers, and our climate ambitions. And it will more effectively connect Angola and its neighbors to global markets.

The United States has committed funding to refurbish the existing 1,300-kilometer Lobito Atlantic Rail Line, and we've taken the first steps to build out 800 kilometers of new rail (inaudible), including through a consortium with Angola and six other partners. I had a chance today to see some of the dramatic progress that's already being made in building out this corridor. It is moving faster and further, I think, than we even might have imagined when we set out to do it. That rail investment, which is the biggest investment the United States has made in railways on the African continent in well over a generation, is at the heart of our Partnership for Global Investment and Infrastructure work in Angola.

But - and I saw this today as well - we're also looking beyond rail, investing in additional projects that will together catalyze even more growth and even more prosperity. We're investing in a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project, which will provide clean electricity to half a million homes. It'll, in so doing, create thousands of local jobs and support the U.S. manufacture of solar equipment. We're helping construct steel bridges that will link communities across the country. We're supporting a project to connect people without traditional banking to mobile money applications. That includes family farmers who will now have access to capital that they can invest in more efficient food production (inaudible).

Food security is one of the areas that's genuinely foundational to our partnership with Angola as well as with countries around the continent. One of the things that I've heard time and again from our partners, at a time when we've had an almost perfect storm leading to greater food insecurity - climate change, then COVID, and then conflict, including the Russian aggression against Ukraine - one of the things I've heard time and again is, as important and as greatly appreciated as emergency assistance is, what partners are really looking for is to build their own sustainable productive capacity.

So that's exactly what the United States is supporting: building long-term sustainable production in Africa, for Africans and, ultimately, for the rest of the world. We can assure that African countries not only meet their own needs but can meet the needs of many others as well.

We're going to work with Angola and with the International Fund for Agriculture Development through a new initiative that we have, our Vision for Adapted Crops and Soil, or VACS, part of USAID's flagship Feed the Future program. VACS rethinks what, where, and how we produce food in the face especially of the climate crisis. It invests above ground, identifying the indigenous African crops that are most nutritious and most resilient to climate change, improves these varieties, and then delivers them to consumers and markets. But it also invests below ground, mapping, conserving, building healthy soils.

Of course, we also discussed the challenges that we face in the region and beyond to security as well as to democracy. The United States very much appreciates President Lourenço's continued efforts to de-escalate tensions between Rwanda and the DRC. We believe that the Luanda Process in tandem with the Nairobi Process is the best hope for enduring peace. Angola is trusted by all sides; President Lourenço's leadership is vital for a breakthrough. Today, we had a chance to discuss that with the president, with the foreign minister, including meaningful steps that can be taken toward peace.

And we discussed other challenges on the continent. We'll continue to count on partners like Angola to address democratic backsliding in the region and follow through on their commitments on civil society, free and fair elections, and other pillars of democracy in our countries.

Finally, we spoke about our partnership beyond the continent, including through the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation. That coalition is bringing together 34 countries - excuse me, 32 countries throughout the Atlantic to drive blue economic development, protect our shared environment, collaborate on science and technology in ways that benefit everyone. Angola is taking a lead on tackling some of the biggest shared ocean-related challenges; it will soon co-chair the Marine Spatial Planning working group, which will help sustainably develop the region's blue economies.

Finally, we're thrilled that Angola is now the 33rd country to join the Artemis Accords. These are a set of practical principles to guide the safe, peaceful, and sustainable exploration of space for the benefit of all humankind. I had a chance to visit the new science museum today here in Luanda, which is a wonderful facility, and I can just see generations of young Angolans having their own horizons expanded. But I think it's also powerfully symbolic for the Artemis Accords that our partnership, our relationship is both literally as well as figuratively reaching new heights. We couldn't be more pleased with that and grateful for it.

So Mr. Foreign Minister, Téte, thank you for this very warm welcome. Thank you for the quality of our conversations and the work we're doing together. It's very good to be here. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER ANTÓNIO: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, Mr. Antony. You almost have said all the content of my speech, because you've said everything that we've been doing together as countries. But mainly, I have to thank you for having chosen Angola as a destination - one of the destinations during your trip to Africa. And also I'd like to thank for the way that his excellency the president of the republic has said he was received in Washington, D.C., and also in the same token to thank on how you received us when I went to Washington, D.C., to meet you at the State Department for a very long period of time where we discussed various issues.

We think that if we are to celebrate the 30 years of relationship with the U.S. last year, we consider that now we have gotten into a crucial stage, which is the stage of implementation of various agreements that we've signed. We have 15 legal instruments that we've signed with the U.S. We have established cooperation mechanisms that range from general policy to a memorandum on strategic partnership and goes down to sectoral dialogues. And I believe that sectoral dialogues are very important, and we are satisfied that the results that we are seeing today on the ground are the aftermath of sectoral dialogues. And we have to encourage those other sectors that need much more action amongst us, such as the vision that Secretary Blinken has mentioned, the VACS.

So we think that food security is key to development. Within the framework of our economy diversification, agriculture has an outstanding role to play. And we have plans that we have adopted as a country, and these plans surely - such as Planagrão, which is the plan of cereals and the plan of livestock. These will also benefit from this strategic partnership.

Secondly is the topic of knowledge transfer. This has been discussed, which would be the best investment that we can make in a country, because we acknowledge we can bring all kind of competencies and all sectors, but it will not be possible to achieve tangible results, because in order to translate them into practice, we need knowledge.

You have mentioned other sectors such as health, telecommunications. We are making progresses with the U.S. Africell company, and energy also has been discussed. And of course, Lobito Corridor is the flagbearer in terms of our domestic and foreign action, given its impact, and above all we have interest of bringing in private sector in order to look at Angola as one of crucial destinations, but also looking at Angola as a well-located country strategically. Angola is located between the Central and Southern African regions, and with Lobito Corridor we believe we can have the biggest ambition, apart from its multiplying effect as an enterprise, that is translated into logistical bases that we're creating - agriculture - and the possibility of having a major regional integration, and therefore a bigger market. So that would lead us to materialize the ambition of having the two oceans - the Atlantic and the ocean connected.

So this is a great potential that it represents, and we also appreciate our cooperation in regional issues. And I believe that all efforts that the president of the republic, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, has been conducting - who is the champion for peace and national reconciliation in Africa - and in this capacity, we also have added responsibility, and everything that we do complements the activities of the UN Security Council. Therefore, the support of U.S. to Angola is important by leveraging and supporting those activities that we are undertaking.

Lastly, the Security Council - we have been following attentively the work that has just been termed, the adoption by the UN Security Council about the resolution on a peacekeeping mission deployed by African Union and its funding. This is a great milestone. Of course, we have not achieved as much as we wanted to; we have achieved 75 percent. But that can constitute a basis for us to having the continent benefiting from this effort. Because indeed, everything that we do in trying to find peace in the region is done on behalf of the international community.

So that's all I had to say at this point in time.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Excellencies. After concluding the addresses by the two entities, the coming moment is for questions and answers. I would appreciate it if the four selected journalists introduce themselves, give their names, and the entity they represent, asking their question remembering that there are only two questions for the Angolan press and two questions for the American press.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good afternoon. My name is Candido Calombe from the Angolan Public Television. My question is addressed to - to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. First, I'd like to know if there is plan and talks for President Biden to visit Angola. And the other question: Apart from the investment mentioned, is there another portfolio to support the country?

Minister Téte António, I would like to know: With this strengthening of strategic partnership, will be Angola in a position to mobilize U.S. investors to come and invest in our country? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you very much. I know because President Biden raises it so frequently that he would welcome an opportunity to come here. Of course, we have an election this year in the United States, so there are challenges to schedules, but I know from both the importance that he attaches to the relationship, the truly historic meeting between President Lourenço and President Biden in Washington, and all of our efforts here that I know he'd look forward to doing that at some point in the future.

At the same time, we've had - to Africa as well as to Angola specifically - a number of the President's most senior advisors coming, visiting, and working closely together. I'm very pleased that I've had the opportunity to be here today, but of course the Secretary of Defense was here, other senior officials have been here, and we look forward to continuing that work together and also receiving our friends in Washington, as we did with Téte recently.

In terms of what we're doing together, as I said, it's reached a depth and a breadth that we've never seen before in the relationship over 30 years. I've mentioned some of the areas where we're working together and supporting each other. The Lobito Corridor, as I said, is probably the most powerful, concrete example because it brings together so much, not just the physical infrastructure and physical connections but digital as well. And also dealing with the climate challenge through (inaudible).

And in doing that, it's creating more good jobs here in Angola, and it's creating greater - greater opportunity as we address these challenges. It's also making Angola, I think, a hub - a hub for transportation, a hub for communications, and in so many ways it's at the foundation of what we're doing. But even as we're doing that, we're working more broadly to attract more private sector investment (inaudible) the tools of the United States Government to support that, and I expect that we'll see even more in the time to come.

The efforts that President Lourenço is making, including combatting corruption, is also critical because it creates the best possible investment environment. Finally, I just want to emphasize something that Téte said because I think it's so important. The assistance that the United States can provide, the investment we can generate, they're usually important and we will continue to do that. But maybe even more important: The way we do things together really is through the transfer of knowledge, the building up of capacity, of expertise, because that's the single best way to ensure that going forward and in the future our friends and partners can really do everything that they need to do for themselves as well as for others in the world.

And that's really at the heart of the relationship, whether it's economic, whether it's security, whether it's on democracy, it's sharing the experience that we've had, sharing the knowledge, the expertise that we've built up, and hopefully having that strengthen the capacity of our partners. I - one thing I hope we see in the future, by the way, is even more exchange between us, between our peoples, starting with education - which is the first and most important way to transfer knowledge. So we look forward to that as well. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER ANTÓNIO: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Just to complement what Mr. Antony has just said with regard to invitation - invitation to President Biden has been extended. We know that the trip of a head of state relies on various factors, and we all know and understand what these factors are. And with regard to the coming of more U.S. companies, the role of diplomats is to pave the ways and establishing the environment for political and diplomatic relationship between countries so that the rest of sectors of society can follow suit. And I believe this is our duty with Mr. Blinken. That is what he's doing apart from other issues of common concern.

With regard to bilateral relations, this is a determining factor showing that the level of relationship that we've achieved already says about - says it all about the existence of good business environment so that U.S. investors and also Angolan investors do not forget that this is a two-way relationship we have constituting courage, our entrepreneurs, to take heed of the opportunities in the U.S.

Now, with regard to private sector, our belief is two. We know that in our transformation agenda it is based on belief on the private sector, and that means we believe on the role of private sectors that is about U.S. companies that would be willing to invest in Angola. We know that Ambassador Mushingi has a very good checklist, and that checklist, which he checks every day, will grow a lot as from now on. And I believe this is the role that we are playing over here, and we believe that all of us do trust in this good relationship between the two countries that will generate a good business environment.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Mr. Minister for having us. Mr. Secretary, could - Shaun Tandon with AFP. Mr. Secretary, could I follow up on a couple of things you mentioned in your opening remarks? You mentioned DRC and Rwanda, and Mr. Minister, you mentioned that as well - the efforts by the president. How hopeful are you that there could be more stability now? You've spoken with Presidents Kagame and Tshisekedi in recent weeks. Previous attempts to end the violence have not succeeded. How optimistic are you that this could succeed now?

Could I also follow up - you mentioned democracy. Opposition groups have called for the holding of local elections here in Angola. Is that something that's come up? To what extent did you discuss the situation here? And Mr. Secretary, if I could also - something slightly further afield - but we're expecting a decision soon from the International Court of Justice regarding the suit filed by South Africa on Israel. I know you've earlier said that it's meritless. Does that judgement still stand? How does this in a long term affect relations with South Africa, that they brought it forward? Thanks very much. Obrigado.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you. Shaun, thank you very much. So first, with regard to the DRC and Rwanda, as you know, we work closely together with our partners first and foremost to get through the recent election period in the DRC. And I think as a result of some of the work that we did - and notably the work that the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines did in working with Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee, putting together a mechanism so that all sides were sharing information in real time and that there were no miscalculations made about what was happening on the ground - that was successful, I think, in helping making sure that we got through the election period.

Now that the election is done, we believe that it's an important moment to try to forge forward with diplomacy and particularly with the processes that have been established, notably Rwanda and also Nairobi, to work toward a durable peace. And that's exactly what we talked to President Lourenço about today. I think in that effort Angola plays - and the president plays - an essential role, because President Lourenço is trusted by all sides. And that's vital. That's the most important currency that we have.

And so we talked about concrete ways to have that process move forward. And I - as you said, I had the opportunity to speak both to the president of the DRC and the president of Rwanda just in recent days. We're going to continue our intense engagement in support of efforts that our African partners are making. I don't want to evaluate prospects, but we did talk about concrete steps today with President Lourenço that could be taken to move the diplomatic track forward. And I think that's essential.

With regard to Angola itself, we also had a good conversation with President Lourenço about some of the work that he's doing here at home in his own leadership. I mentioned the (inaudible) that are being made to combat corruption and how important that is, first and foremost, for the Angolan people, but it's also important in terms of attracting foreign investment.