Administrator Samantha Power at a Press Conference

ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you to all the representatives from the Angolan government and my colleagues from the United States who have joined us today. I want to extend particular gratitude to Minister of Transport de Abreu for his inspiring leadership in modernizing Angola’s infrastructure, and to Director for Concession Economics Eugénio Fernandes for his commitment to open, competitive, transparent procurement processes.  

Earlier today, I rode the rail line that will eventually connect this continent from West to East, and help turn Angola into a global trade hub: a true gateway to Africa and all the extraordinary economic potential the continent brings.

It brought to mind my own country’s history – which was forever changed almost 155 years ago, with the release of a telegram containing just a single word: DONE! 

That telegram went out to newspapers across the United States at the moment that the last spike – cast in a ceremonial solid gold – was laid in a railroad that connected North America for the first time from coast to coast. Life was immediately transformed. The trip across the continent went from taking months to days, from costing over $1000 per passenger – more than $20,000 in today’s dollars – to just $150. Businesses could ship food, textiles, metals – helping jumpstart rapid economic growth by opening, in the words of one reporter, “an immense interior country to market.”

We see that same potential here – to bring Angolan goods to Africa and to the world, to connect remote communities to opportunity, to spur economic growth across the corridor and beyond. 

But the truth is that the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the U.S. is a complicated story. The laborers who built it – many of whom were immigrants – worked in dangerous conditions for unfairly low pay. Many indigenous communities were displaced by the railroad and shut out from the economic benefits it created. In some cases, the growth spurred by the railroad benefited the very rich who controlled the infrastructure more than the communities who surrounded it. 

So our goal with the development of the Lobito Corridor can be captured not in one word, but two: for this transcontinental railroad to be not just DONE – but done right. 

That means a few things. 

First, “done right” means holding transparent, open, competitive procurement processes, free of corruption, in order to select the companies who will do quality work at a fair price and provide good jobs for local communities. 

The Angolan government has seen great success in running these processes for the Lobito Rail rehabilitation in 2022 – and for the improvements to this vital multi-purpose terminal at the Port of Lobito just last month. 

To date, these successful, publicly-competed procurements have led to hundreds of millions of dollars of commitments to this region, and this figure will continue to grow. This is why today, I am pleased to launch a new partnership between the Ministry of Transport and USAID to support the government of Angola’s vision to successfully conduct similar procurements that generate private investments. These investments will create thousands of jobs and provide a host of new opportunities for Angolans in this region and beyond.  

“Done right” also means strong oversight and accountability for those building this infrastructure. So today, I am announcing that we will work with the U.S. Congress to invest $3.5 million to support local civil society organizations, private sector institutions, and media in Angola to better understand – and insist upon – fair, open, and accountable processes for public procurements like these. We will also help to enhance the oversight capacities of key government audit institutions to minimize fraud, waste, and abuse of state resources. 

And most importantly, “done right” means making critical investments in local communities to help them take advantage of the opportunities that the development of the Lobito Corridor will bring. 

Done right means supporting farmers along the Corridor so they can use the rail to ship what they grow.

Earlier today, I was in Benguela to launch the expansion of our support for rural women farmers to help them take advantage of that opportunity. The project will benefit 20,000 women farmers by training them on how to increase their yields and scale their operations; support them to obtain documents like birth certificates and national IDs so they can secure land; and offer courses in basic literacy. On top of that, our private sector partners will help make the connections with buyers so that these communities have guarantees for their product.

Done right means providing $5 million to support Africell’s expansion of access to mobile networks and mobile money, so we can connect Lobito corridor communities not just physically but digitally. 

Done right means making the infrastructure as safe as possible, so we’re investing $5 million to work with local universities to prevent road traffic injuries – Angola’s second leading cause of death – along the Corridor.

Done right means using the railroad to extend essential care, why is why yesterday I announced that we will expand our lifesaving work to fight malaria to Moxico province, through which the corridor runs, and shipping essential commodities like bed nets, tests, and treatments via rail. 

And done right means powering the infrastructure via green energy, with the U.S. Export Import Bank providing $900 million in financing for solar farms alongside the corridor.

Done right doesn’t mean just building a railroad; it means building a new future together with Angola.

Now, doing right by the Angolan people isn’t new for the United States. We’ve worked together for years to advance key priorities – and have seen some incredible results from our partnership. For instance, in the past few years, we’ve made crucial strides in fighting deadly diseases like COVID and malaria. We helped provide 11 million COVID vaccines to the Angolan people – efforts that helped nearly 90 percent of the population receive at least one dose. And with the pandemic straining health systems around the world, we worked with the Angolan health system to help them continue progress in the fight against malaria. Since 2020, the rate of malaria deaths in the provinces where we’ve focused our malaria work has decreased by nearly 30 percent.

But, today, thanks to President Lourenco and President Biden’s leadership, our relationship is stronger than ever – and we aim to make the most of this transformational moment.

For Angola, the Lobito Corridor is the development opportunity of a generation. Let’s get it done right – so that the people of Angola can reap the benefits.