United States President Joe Biden will go to Africa next month for the first time as president, following through on a promise he made to visit the continent while in office.
During the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the White House announced a trip to Angola and Germany next month. The President will spend time in the capital city of Luanda from Oct. 13 to Oct. 15 to discuss economic partnerships and a vision for Africa’s first transcontinental open-access rail network connecting the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, among other issues.
“The president’s visit to Luanda celebrates the evolution of the U.S.-Angola relationship, underscores the United States’ continued commitment to African partners, and demonstrates how collaborating to solve shared challenges delivers for the people of the United States and across the African continent,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Biden had long pledged to visit Africa as president, but without specific plans to follow through.
He then shared hopes to visit after he was reelected.
“I plan on going in February after I am reelected,” Biden said as he greeted Kenyan President William Ruto at the White House in May. But Biden’s decision to exit the race for president altered that calculus, casting a trip to Africa in doubt.
Earlier Tuesday, the president announced the U.S. is providing at least $500 million, as well as 1 million Mpox (previously known as monkeypox) vaccine doses, to aid African countries as they try to prevent and respond to the Mpox outbreak.
In August, the World Health Organization determined that an upsurge of Mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a growing number of nations in Africa constitutes a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations, the highest level of alarm.