Luanda - The Lobito Corridor is of strategic importance to the world, as it will connect the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Angolan President João Lourenço said in an interview with the US newspaper The New York Times, published on Thursday.
In the interview carried out as part of the visit of US President Joe Biden, João Lourenço said that in addition to benefiting Angola and the African continent, it will shorten the connection between Asia and America.
'If we manage to connect the two corridors, world trade will certainly gain from this, so maritime traffic will be done more easily, with greater safety, in less time and at more competitive costs,' he stressed.
According to the President, this importance is even greater today, when there is great insecurity in the Red Sea, another important maritime route for international trade, but which has been in a situation of considerable insecurity for a long time.
'Even if the security situation of the Red Sea is resolved, the Lobito Corridor will therefore always remain at an advantage,' he said.
He clarified that the fact that the corridor serves to export crude minerals from African countries is not a concern because these nations do not yet have the capacity to transform all the resources they hold and extract.
He maintained that it would be utopian to say that the extraction of raw minerals, from one day to the next, will stop, that African countries will give up selling their raw minerals.
Although, João Lourenço stressed, the ideal would be for African countries to have this ability to transform them here, mostly, to add value, to give more jobs to youth, 'but this does not dispense, in any way, with the need we still have to export a good part of our raw miners'.
'So, it doesn't scare us. Miners today are exported in our own interest, in the interest of the African states themselves. It is a situation that is very different from colonial times, because the settlers did not have our consent to take our wealth from here,' he said.
Regarding the gains for Angola, he said that with the Lobito Corridor the country will boost economic development in general, but particularly in those provinces through which the Benguela railway passes, in addition to the fact that it will also serve for the export of agricultural products.
He also pointed out the fact that it favors the emergence of industries along the Benguela railway, as well as the country will gain in terms of tariffs for goods that pass through Angolan territory with other destinations, particularly towards the landlocked countries of central Africa.
Also, regarding the importance of this equipment, the Angolan President recalled that the continental free trade agreement needs infrastructure, especially road, port and rail.
'Therefore, the Lobito Corridor, in essence, comes, in some way, to respond to this need that our continent has for the easier movement of goods between our countries,' he replied.
The Lobito Corridor comprises a railway line that connects Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, allowing the transport of minerals and raw materials to global markets.
President Joe Biden's visit is scheduled for December 2 to 4, with a bilateral meeting with his Angolan counterpart in Luanda and a trip to Benguela province, home to the Lobito Corridor infrastructure. ART/DOJ
