U.S. President Joe Biden has a full plate when it comes to foreign affairs—many of which are giving him more heartburn than he would ideally prefer heading into a tightly contested bid for re-election. But there is one under-the-radar project that his administration has pushed that could likely end up becoming his signature foreign policy legacy for decades to come—the Lobito Corridor. It’s a multibillion dollar railway investment that connects central and southern Africa to a deep-water port in Angola that will become a pivotal piece of the supply chain fueling the expected $10 trillion global clean energy economy.
Named after a port city on the coast of Angola, the Lobito Corridor will eventually connect mining operations in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with an ocean outlet on the west coast of Africa from which these key raw materials can then be shipped to global markets. These mines, which hold vast deposits of cobalt, copper, lithium, and other critical minerals needed for making EV batteries and other high-tech components and hardware, are currently held back by an incredibly onerous logistics route that forces operators to truck minerals over thousand of miles of oftentimes dangerous terrain and even conflict zones before arriving at port—a logistics dynamic that increases costs, limits global supply, and wreaks havoc on the environment.
Yet in one fell swoop, this signature initiative of the Biden administration has the potential to accomplish a triumvirate of major long-term U.S. foreign policy goals: countering China’s global dominance in the critical minerals supply chain, kicking off an unprecedented wave of development in key developing African economies, and perhaps most importantly, unlocking access at scale to the key inputs needed to power Earth’s migration to so-called clean technology, providing a real path forward to a future less reliant on hydrocarbons.
And while President Joe Biden will likely reap zero near-term political rewards for leaning into the Lobito Corridor effort, the one immediate winner is clear—Angola.
The port of Angola’s Luanda is pictured.
The port of Angola’s Luanda is pictured.
JOHN WESSELS/AFP via Getty Images
Mostly known for its vast off-shore petroleum reserves, which made it the world’s fastest growing economy for much of the 2000s, Angola’s Lobito Corridor has the potential to breathe new life into the country, positioning it as the global gateway for the whole of central and southern Africa. Not only will the new railway enable key minerals to find their way to port in a much more efficient, economical, and environmentally responsible way, but this effort will allow the world’s goods to penetrate deep into the interior of central Africa—with all of this commerce flowing necessarily through Angola.
“The Lobito Corridor is, hands down, the most transformational infrastructure project to ever occur in central and southern Africa,” Pereira Alfredo, the governor of the Bié Province in central Angola, told Newsweek. “Not only will this initiative unlock access to critical minerals mined in Angola, Zambia and the DRC, but it will also spur a wave of tremendous growth and development along its route.”
Anne Clawson, a principal at Cascade Advisory, a Washington, D.C.,-based consultancy that advises companies in green technology and clean energy, goes even a step further. She believes that the Lobito Corridor really places Angola in a globally strategic position on the world’s fastest growing continent.
“It’s one thing to have oil reserves, but as the world slowly but surely starts to migrate away from carbon-based power solutions, being a gatekeeper to the biggest channel of goods in and out of the heart of Africa is far more valuable. Not only will the Lobito Corridor catapult Angola’s standing onto the international stage, as a major entrepôt in the critical minerals supply chain, Angola will soon realize that it is a significant player in the soon-to-be multi trillion-dollar clean energy economy,” she said.
Although the Lobito Corridor will be able to rely on some of the existing railway infrastructure, much of it still needs to be refurbished and rebuilt. Nevertheless, all of this points to a bright future for Angola, the forthcoming clean energy revolution, and Biden’s foreign policy legacy.
Arick Wierson is a six-time Emmy Award-winning television producer and served as a senior media and political adviser to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He advises corporate clients on communications strategies in the United States, Africa, and Latin America.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
Update (2/14/24, 9:43 AM EST): The article was updated to correct where Anne Clawson works.
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Publish date : 2024-02-14 08:00:00
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