# Angola - United States Department of State

- Digital Press Briefing on the U.S.-Africa Business Summit Joy Basu, Deputy Assistant SecretaryBureau of African AffairsAlice Albright, CEO, Millennium Challenge CorporationReta Jo Lewis, President and Chair of the Board of Directors, Export-Import Bank of the United StatesMODERATOR:  Good afternoon to everyone from the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub.  I welcome our participants logging in from across the continent and thank all of you for joining this discussion on the topic of the ongoing U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Dallas, Texas.  Today, we are very pleased to be joined by the U.S. Department of State’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, Joy Basu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Alice Albright, and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Reta Jo Lewis.  Our speakers will review the 2024 U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Dallas and how the U.S. works to increase trade and investment in Africa. We will begin today’s briefing with opening remarks from our speakers and then we’ll turn to your questions.  We’ll try to get to as many of them as we can during the briefing. So with that, I’d like to turn it over to the president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Reta Jo Lewis, for her opening remarks.  MS LEWIS:  Good morning and thank you very much.  It is such a pleasure to be here with all of you to speak about the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ commitment to fostering economic collaboration with nations in Africa.  The Export-Import Bank – as we call it, EXIM – is the official export credit agency of the United States.  We actually were established as of February – this February – 90 years ago.  EXIM has played a very critical role in fostering economic opportunity for U.S. companies and for partnering nations that American companies do business with around the world.   It is very exciting to be here at the Corporate Council on Africa’s U.S. annual meeting, and it has given us an opportunity to talk about the work that we have and to make some major announcements.  As those of you who do not know, EXIM offers direct loans, loan guarantees, and insurance products backed by the full faith and credit of the United States to support the exports of U.S.-made goods and services.   So we were actually proud to be able to announce that – on Tuesday, we announced alongside the president of Angola, where we participated in a signing ceremony to celebrate the closing of three key partnerships for global infrastructure and investment, PGII projects, in Angola.  The projects that we signed are historic direct loans for more than 900 million to support the construction of two solar energy power plants in Angola.  The project is the largest renewable energy project and largest transaction in Sub-Saharan Africa in EXIM’s 90-year history.   We also celebrated the closing of a 363 million transaction on the – our China and Transformational Export Program, which we call CTEP, which goes to support the export of small business Acrow Corporation’s prefabricated modular steel bridges and related equipment to construct bridge infrastructure across Angola.   And then the final transaction that we were able to announce with President Lourenço and signed by his minister of finance, Minister Vera Daves, was a final transaction for 42 million to support Gates Air’s export of EXIM – of FM transmitters, towers, training, and other equipment.  This authorization is going to help extend the Angolan Government’s ability to communicate by radio with approximately 95 percent of the country’s population.   These were projects that we were – have been working with the Government of Angola for the last year, and we know that these are the types of projects that epitomizes our commitment to the Biden-Harris administration’s PGII objectives, a collaborative effort by U.S. Government agencies to support sustainable, clean, resilient, and inclusive infrastructure projects. So our commitment to Sub-Saharan Africa is also one of our key mandates that Congress has placed on us since we were reauthorized in 2019 to make more financing available in Sub-Saharan Africa.  And we know there is still more work to be done.  We’re eager to continue building upon our strong work on the commitment – on the strong work on the continent and are excited to be here at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit to seek out additional new opportunities to support U.S. exporters doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa.   MODERATOR:  Thank you very much, Chair Lewis.  So for her opening remarks, now we’d like to go to CEO Alice Albright.  MS ALBRIGHT:  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Good morning, good afternoon.  Wonderful to be with everybody.  So it’s a very exciting week for us.  There is, of course, as Chair Lewis has just said, the U.S.-Africa Business Summit going on.  It’s the 16th Summit, and there’s a lot of energy in the room, with a number of U.S. agencies there and then a number of participants, heads of state from the continent, and a number of businesses.  It was just a terrific – it is a terrific environment.   MCC has a lot going on in the continent.  One of the things that we also did this week was we celebrated 20 years of MCC being in operation.  We were started in 2004 by President Bush.  And since our founding, we’ve been squarely focused on working on the continent.  Of the $17 billion that we’ve invested globally so far, 10 billion of it has gone to the continent.  We’ve worked in 24 countries.  We’ve done – of the 10, almost all of it relates to infrastructure in one way or another.  We also have a lot going on right now in the continent.  We’ve got about $3 billion in active programs. So in addition to meeting with a lot of our partners, this week we also announced the implementation or the start of implementation of, as I’m very proud to say, our 79th program, and it is a $350 million program in Malawi to help farmers get their goods to market cheaper and faster.  So we are very excited about that.  We also had a chance to meet with a number of our bilateral partners – of course, President Chakwera was with us to announce the project.  We also had a wonderful meeting with President Neves from Cabo Verde.  Of course, Cabo Verde was one of our earliest partners at MCC, and we announced – well, we announced it earlier this year.  We had a chance to speak with him further about something that we think is going to be very interesting, which is a regional program with an island nation, and I think it speaks to that country’s very strong vision for the role that they occupy where they are.   From a trade and regional investment perspective, we think that our regional program is going to really be very additive to our work, and we’ve got a number of different regional programs that are in various states of play.   And then another program that we’re – I’m just jumping around a bit, but another program that we’re very excited about is our program in Mozambique we signed this past fall, and it’s a half-a-billion-dollar program that will focus on various aspects of infrastructure in Mozambique.  One big piece of it is a significant investment to restore the bridge that connects the southern – the Mocuba* Bridge that connects the southern part of the country to the northern part of the country, and it’s become very vulnerable due to flooding and other things to do with climate change.  So we’re very excited about that. We have a lot of other things going on.  We have currently $3 billion in active programs in the continent, and I’m happy to answer further questions about them if we have time.  But let me turn it back over to you all so you can get on to other questions.  Thank you. MODERATOR:  Thank you very much, CEO Albright.  So finally for her opening statement, let’s turn to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joy Basu. MS BASU:  Thank you so much, and thank you, everyone, for joining.  Good afternoon.  Thank you for your time today and thank you for the important work you do as journalists.  A free press is a critical part of a thriving democracy, and we know that those values go hand in hand with a thriving economy.  So thank you for the important work that you do, and we’re just very – I feel very lucky to be here with Chair Lewis and with CEO Albright.   I will just wrap up very quickly by saying it’s been a successful Summit for us so far, and it’s really exciting to see how much progress has been made with the U.S.-Africa trade relationship not only since the December 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, but since I was with so many of you last summer in Gaborone at the CCA Summit last year.   We had a very comprehensive interagency delegation here to meet with the – I believe the final number of participants from CCA was 1,789, so almost 1,800 people were here.  And we had representation from across our interagency. As you heard from my colleagues, so much of the work that our interagency does is focused on energy and infrastructure, because that is so foundational to the work that other industries create.  We also had incredible deal signings with USTDA and Malawi, working on battery storage; with DFC and Sierra Leone, working on energy.  And we had meetings here to build on those industries with healthcare, with agriculture, and cross-functional industries like ICT. I think the goal of this is to really reiterate the U.S. commitment to Africa and the U.S. commitment to a 21st century economic partnership with the continent.  And the work here at USABS is really helping to partner with our African governments and African and American private sector to facilitate private sector-led economic growth and prosperity. So let me wrap there.  I’m very excited for your questions.  Thank you.  MODERATOR:  Well, thank you very much to each of our panelists today.  We’ll now begin the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing. So for our first question today, we have a question from Mr. Andualem Sisay Gessesse of the New Business Ethiopia.  And his question is directed to Chair Reta Jo Lewis, and that question is this:  “Can you please explain the major achievements of the Export-Import Bank of the United States in advancing trade and investment with African countries over the past few years and your plans ahead to further enhance and support U.S. companies to invest in African countries and boost trade between the two sides?” So, Chair Lewis. MS LEWIS:  Yes, thank you so much for that question.  One of the things that we are very excited about is that EXIM, as I mentioned, is celebrating our 90th anniversary this year.  And our support for Africa really dates to nearly that beginning.  Since we did our first deal in Angola in 1942, EXIM has had a strong and reliable – and a trading partnership for Africa.  And so since 1997, that has been underscored by EXIM’s congressional mandate to build partnerships and increase financings in the region. I – in Fiscal Year 2023, not only did we – we approved over 1.6 billion in authorizations for Sub-Saharan Africa that I just mentioned, we also have undertaken over five trips and traveling throughout Africa, meeting not only with government officials but, of course, the private sector.  Because we know that it is going to be through public-private partnerships that we can all get this work done.  In the work that we’ve also done in support of U.S. exporters engaging with Africa is that we’ve signed six MOUs with African governments and institutions, as well as signing the memorandums of understanding with Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire.  And we’re – each of these agreements have been designed to facilitate up to about 500 million in U.S. exports financing and deepen the commercial relationship with those countries. We are – we have been working very diligently with those on the continent where we have signed and begun work through MOUs totaling about 1.3 billion with the African Ex-Im Bank, with the Africa Finance Corporation, and then most recently with the Bank of Industry in Nigeria.  In total since I’ve joined EXIM, we have signed about 2.3 billion of MOUs.  And so we recognize that the continent is changing, and we’re committed to the administration’s various initiatives on Africa. You can see, by the MOUs that we have signed, we are prepared to work with African countries and partner with all stakeholders to ensure that our exporters compete on a level playing field.  And so we want to be partners in the work that all of us do in helping U.S. exporters contract with Africa, as well as as we work with the foreign buyers who want to – on the continent who want to purchase U.S. goods and services.   We know that as we have done – undertaken this work, we know that the needs around infrastructure, health care, women entrepreneurship are very vital for – and are vital, and investments for – are needed for economic growth and for job creation.  And so we stand ready as partners and collaborators to work with those on the continent. And as Alice mentioned, this conference has borne out to be very successful for us.  It is such high energy in the room, and to be able to see how far the relationships that we have garnered, along with others in the United States Government who are here in full force to support these efforts that the President has asked us to in building and strengthening and deepening our bilateral relationship.  And EXIM has been – is very proud to have done their part.  MODERATOR:  All right.  Thank you very much.  So we do have a question from Kemi Osukoya of Africa Bazaar magazine.  And I’d like to open Kemi’s mic and if Kemi can answer – ask that question live. QUESTION:  Hello, can you hear me?  MODERATOR:  Yes.  QUESTION:  Okay.  Thank you very much for taking my question.  And good morning and good afternoon to you guys.  My question is a two-part.  What percentage of the deals that were signed will be given to SMEs and women-owned businesses, both on the continent and as well as the U.S. entrepreneurs?  And the other part of my question is, being on the ground at events, you mentioned that you’re hearing feedbacks from the partners, with leaders.  So could you share some of those feedback that you hear regarding the work that you’re doing on the continent?  Thank you very much. MS LEWIS:  No, thank you very much for that question.  As it relates to SMEs, I think what a lot of – what we always like to say at EXIM is that we’re the bank for everyone.  And in being the bank for everyone, we have to strive exceptionally hard as we work with large, medium, and small businesses.  EXIM, when we were reauthorized in 2019, Congress gave us an additional mandate to make additional financing available in the small business arena, and not just – I call it not just small business for small business’s sake, but also to really drill down and go beyond a small business, but also around women entrepreneurship, around veterans, around – and rural communities, and really in the underserved populations. And so we’re very excited that with the agreements that have been signed on these particular deals that I just discussed in Angola, there is a significant amount of work that will be done in the supply chain, and most of those businesses are small business.  We have been – as we have worked through this process with Angola as well as with our own U.S. exporters, small business, they all know that small – that the small business exporters are very essential, and we’re going to be monitoring very, very closely what that looks like.   As it relates to – and then additional work that we have done to ensure that we reach those small businesses is to work with members in the diaspora.  The President announced – President Biden announced a diaspora council a few months ago, and one of the things that we’ve been really hard at work with them is to ensure that the work that we do at EXIM is expose to those members who are specifically focused on how do you develop and continue to build strong relationships with diaspora members throughout the continent.  So we’re really excited about the work that’s going to go forth in Angola and excited about the work that we do at EXIM overall, and the fact that last year, when we authorized the over $8.5 billion, 2 point – 2 billion of that was transactions that were in small business.  So we feel we are on target and on tap to reach those goals, as well as the fact that 90 percent – I think it’s like 88 percent, 88.5 percent – of the transition that EXIM does on a yearly basis is in the small business arena.  So we feel pretty confident that small business is going to be very much a part of the work that we’re doing, not only here in U.S. but those also in Angola and in Africa.  MODERATOR:  Thank you very much, Chair Lewis, for that response.  And we do have a lot of questions, and unfortunately, the time of our participants is limited, so we only have time probably for a few more questions today.  We did receive a question from Ms. Favour Okpale of BusinessDay in Nigeria, and the question is:  “African countries, including Nigeria, face enormous challenges, including inadequate power supply, lack of infrastructure, and security, among others.  Wondering whether these issues were on the front burner at this Summit; and in specific terms, are there concrete commitments from the U.S. to assist Nigeria and other African countries come out of this?”  And she also has a question about AGOA.  So I think if I could throw it to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Basu for her take on this question.  MS BASU:  Perfect, thank you so much, and thank you again for the question.  We just came back, actually, from the bi-national mission in Abuja last week, which was co-chaired between Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Foreign Minister Tuggar, and we discussed these questions in depth there.  And so I will be brief right now as the readouts of those meetings come out.  But we had a large session on shared prosperity.  And we understand that the challenges that Nigeria are facing are quite acute, and we see them echoed across the continent – as you say, lack of infrastructure, increasing insecurity, and yes, the United States is committed to be a good partner across that spectrum.  What I would say is, in particular, we’ve made commitments both to work on the security situation, but also to, as you’ve heard today, work on infrastructure, whether that’s roads and bridges or that’s energy, huge challenges both in Nigeria and across the continent.  A few concrete commitments were to work on the business-enabling environment in Nigeria, and to make sure that American companies that are investing in Nigeria are having a transparent and positive experience to deliver those goods and services, and we see that across the continent.  We also talked about reaffirming the difficult but hard policy choices that Nigeria is making and that we see being made across the continent to really strengthen their economies.  So of course in Nigeria there’s been a lot of challenge with the currency, but it is hopefully something that will make the economy stronger and enable Nigerian businesses to thrive.  We see that work across the continent as African countries come out of the pandemic and try to come out from under quite significant debt burdens and foreign exchange challenges.  And so we are working closely both with our U.S. Treasury, with the central banks of African countries, particularly Nigeria, and the World Bank to make sure that these countries are on solid economic footing to really serve their people and meet the basic public needs, both first and foremost for their people, but also to create the public sector goods that then allow private sector companies to thrive. So let me pause there.  I’m happy to follow up afterwards as well.  Thank you.  MODERATOR:  All right, thanks very much.  So we have a question on MCC, and that came in from Sogah Blessed of Joy News TV in Ghana.  Sogah, I’d like to open your mic, but if you could please be very brief in asking your question because our time is very limited.  Thank you. QUESTION:  Thank you.  I’m grateful.  Thank you for the opportunity.  I’m asking this question because of a peculiar situation we face in Ghana in the energy sector, the power crisis.  In 2019 the MCC revoked a $190 million funding for the energy sector owing to some challenges we had with the privatization concession.  I’m asking, given the situation in which we find ourselves now, is the MCC willing to avail this crucial funding, or it will be on the condition that unless the Government of Ghana brings back the PDS concession, which was a privatization module, and at the MCC?  Thank you. MS ALBRIGHT:  Thank you for the question.  A couple – a couple of thoughts on Ghana.  We did have a compact with Ghana, and the compact is closed.  And we were able to complete a fair amount of that work.  Right now we don’t have any immediate plans to work again in Ghana, but we can always look again to see if Ghana may be – may become a country that we can work with again. Generally speaking with regard to energy, we’re working in a number of energy compacts across the continent right now, because I completely agree with you about how critical energy is to overall development, which is our main mandate. MODERATOR:  All right, thank you very much.  As I mentioned, our panelists’ time is very limited and I know that Chair Lewis has another commitment in a few minutes.  So I’d like to give her an opportunity to give some closing remarks if she has some closing thoughts for us.  MS LEWIS:  Well, thank you so much.  I think this has been a very important conversation.  We realize – we’re really excited to be able to talk with all the journalists this morning.  I think the thing that we want to emphasize at EXIM is that we have a vested interest in the continent.  But we have a vested interest about the people and improving peoples’ lives, not only in America but also in Africa.  And so that’s why we are here as well as the work that we have done over decades about building partnerships and collaborations.  And I just want to just continue to emphasize the fact that we are looking for ways of how to continue to work with all businesses, especially large, medium, and small, and that to end on saying that equity is a priority for us.  We proudly provide additional support for those critical businesses.  And so when we’re speaking about small business, we’re speaking about women entrepreneurship, we know that they have to overcome a number of challenges.  We know that access to capital is the number one thing to keep them from growing and expanding, and that’s why EXIM is proud to offer additional services to our U.S. exporters and to our foreign buyers and working with our small businesses as we continue to keep a spotlight on them.  And so we are offering the different products and services, and we stand ready to work with them whether it is through initial consultation, helping them as they analyze the opportunities, working – as we work alongside our Department of Commerce who is often leading number delegations that we participate in throughout the continent, and also working to assist small businesses and underserved populations and minority business with connections to resources.  We have a 20-year – five-year history of doing that work, and we have recently introduced some additional products that is going to go to the benefit of that community.  So we are really excited to have been able to have a few minutes to share with you our continued commitment to work on the continent.   MODERATOR:  All right, thank you very much.  And as I mentioned, our panelists’ time is limited, so I’d like to also ask Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Basu and also CEO Albright if they have any closing thoughts for us. MS BASU:  I will defer to CEO Albright first.  MS ALBRIGHT:  Thank you.  Just very, very briefly, we too at MCC are very committed to a very inclusive approach to economic growth.  We didn’t get to touch on it earlier, but we work in almost every country on either figuring out how to include women and women-owned businesses into our work or small and medium-sized businesses.  So this often takes the form of different reforms that are necessary to enable parts of the society that are typically not included to get included.  We’ve got some wonderful examples – one in Lesotho just recently where there were some laws that were changed to enable women to own – to inherit land.  We’ve got a terrific program that we’ve just closed out in Morocco that introduced opportunities to a range of people in that country.  We’ve got a wonderful program in Cote d’Ivoire, a partnership with Microsoft that is focusing on bringing digital skills to women entrepreneurs in Cote d’Ivoire.   So inclusive growth is very much a focus of our work, and I think we’re making good, slow, steady progress on it.  MODERATOR:  All right, thank you.  And finally for Deputy Assistant Secretary Basu.  MS BASU:  Happy to, and happy to quickly answer a couple of questions that were coming up earlier, one around the feedback that we’ve gotten.  The feedback has been for more.  Right, we want more U.S. companies, more trade.  The momentum is really great and we cannot let our feet off the pedal – our foot off the pedal when it comes to strengthening this economic partnership.   U.S. companies in Africa not only help raise standards, but the work that we do, as CEO Albright mentioned, really creates the enabling environment for all businesses to thrive – African businesses, multinational businesses, American businesses.  And we know the marketplace works better when there are more choices, and so we’re glad to be able to facilitate and foster that.  And so that’s the main feedback that we have heard across the last – that I’ve at last heard across the last few days, is for more, and a lot of excitement about momentum that’s been made so far.  There was also a question about AGOA, and I would defer to my colleagues in Congress, who really have the responsibility for reauthorizing AGOA since it is a law.  But I will emphasize that the Biden administration has expressed strong support for the reauthorization of AGOA and the modernization of AGOA.  We want to see it reauthorized in order to be – to continue to be the cornerstone of trade, but also to facilitate our utilization, and to be more impactful and more strategic.   And so we have had great conversations with our colleagues on the Hill, in Congress, and there is what we call bipartisan and bicameral support for AGOA, which I think really emphasizes that our Africa relationship is important across the United States.  However, we do need to see ways that that law will actually get signed, and so we are working closely with our partners in Congress to see what can be done.  My push to our African partners on the continent is to develop utilization strategies to increase their usage of AGOA, which is a really incredible unilateral program for African companies to export to the United States duty-free.  And we want to see more companies – small companies, large companies – take advantage of that.  And so my push to the African partners on the line is to increase awareness but also increase national strategies that will let small companies and large companies make the most of this benefit.  And that maybe leads to my final point, which is a push to all our journalists on the line, which is twofold.  One is to keep doing what you’re doing in bringing transparency to your local markets about what is happening, because that is what is required for economies to thrive, is that transparency and that information and accountability.  So thank you for the work you do there and the ways that enables democracy but also economic growth.  And so keep up that great work.   But also, help us to tell the good-news stories across Africa, but also across the U.S.-Africa business relationship.  I think in the last year there have been a lot of hard stories across Africa, and those are very important, and we are working as a U.S. Government to address the democratic backsliding and the incredible insecurity we’re seeing in many areas.  But one challenge in enabling U.S. businesses to come to Africa is the risk perception.  And so one thing our team does very closely is try to, on one hand, right-size that risk perception and tell the good-news stories of countries that are taking the right policy decisions, that do have the right enabling environments; and then, other side, working to actually reduce the risk of investing by helping shore up security, helping to foster democracy and reinforce democracy.   So I ask your partnership in both sides of that, both in bringing accountability where it’s required, but also in telling the good-news stories because we know there are so many incredible innovations and entrepreneurs, and the world needs those African entrepreneurs to solve the problems of the future, and you are an important conduit for making sure their stories are told.  So thank you. MODERATOR:  All right.  Well, that concludes today’s briefing.  I want to thank Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs Joy Basu, Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Alice Albright, and President of the EXIM Bank of the United States Reta Jo Lewis for joining us today.  Thank you also to all the journalists for participating.  As always, a recording and a transcript of today’s briefing will be distributed to participating journalists as soon as we can produce them.   If you have any questions about today’s briefing, you may contact us here at the Africa Regional Media Hub at AFMediaHub@state.gov.  I would also like to invite everyone to join us on Twitter, or X, at our handle @AfricaMediaHub.  Thank you very much and have a great day. # # # 
- Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Celebrates Signing of Finance Agreements for Republic of Angola Projects Office of the Spokesperson													HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases&#8230;Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Celebrates Signing of Finance Agreements for Republic of Angola Projects				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Celebrates Signing of Finance Agreements for Republic of Angola Projects																																		Media Note																		May 7, 2024																																							Today,&nbsp;on the margins of the Corporate Council on Africa’s U.S.-Africa Business Summit,&nbsp;the United States and the Republic of Angola celebrated the signing of final agreements to finance three major infrastructure projects in the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI)’s flagship Lobito Corridor. The agreements, for projects totaling more than $1.3 billion for clean power, radio connectivity, and transportation infrastructure, demonstrate the U.S. government’s continued commitment to support and accelerate the economic investment priorities of Angola.&nbsp;Awarded less than a year after President Biden announced the flagship Lobito Corridor, these infrastructure projects represent the largest U.S.-backed PGI financing package to any country since the inception of the initiative and will create Angolan and American jobs.In October 2023, the U.S. Government signed a seven-side MOU with the governments of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and the European Commission, alongside the African Development Bank and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), to develop the Lobito Corridor, including key rail infrastructure investments in all three African countries. Today’s signing ceremony in Dallas is an important example of the holistic PGI investment approach, where G7 public financing and project de-risking across multiple sectors simultaneously can unlock economic growth and opportunities while supporting responsible businesses practices.The Export–Import Bank of the United States’ direct $872 million financing—the largest renewable energy transaction in EXIM’s history—will support U.S. developer Sun Africa’s construction of two solar energy power plants generating more than 500 megawatts of renewable power to Angola’s national grid. The project is a result of a successful U.S. whole-of-government approach, including crucial advisory assistance at different stages from Power Africa and Prosper Africa and support from the Department of Commerce Advocacy Center. Bringing together EU, Republic of Korea, and Swedish-produced equipment with American technology and U.S. equipment suppliers, and supported by ING Capital LLC, the solar farms will provide clean, sustainable electricity to 3.3 million people and help the Angolan Government to further reduce its CO2 emission.The $450 million Acrow Bridge project, investing in modern transportation infrastructure through the engineering, procurement, and construction of 186 bridges throughout Angola, involves financing and support from EXIM, the Private Export Funding Corporation, and Standard Chartered Bank. AFC’s commercial loan for a portion of the project is an example of the Lobito Corridor consortium partnering beyond rail to support rural transport connectivity that will serve to connect communities to each other and the larger regional corridor.The Angola FM Radio Signal Expansion and Studio Modernization Project, supported by Ohio-based GatesAir technology, is a $40 million project to expand analog FM radio coverage to 95 percent of the Angolan population. This turnkey deal will supply 168 Flexiva FM transmitters, installation of antennas, towers, auxiliary RF systems and studio upgrades across the country, in a successful collaboration between GatesAir, EXIM-guaranteed lender Deutsche Bank, and the Republic of Angola.The Corporate Council on Africa brings together partners from around the world to promote the growth and economic imperatives that the United States and Africa share, including PGI’s Lobito Corridor development.						Tags																					Angola																								Bureau of African Affairs																								Office of the Spokesperson
- Deputy Secretary Verma’s Visit to Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Angola Office of the SpokespersonDeputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard R. Verma will travel to Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Angola April 21-25.In Cameroon, Deputy Secretary Verma will meet with senior Cameroonian government officials, public health partners, and civil society leaders to discuss U.S.-Cameroon cooperation in the areas of health, peace and regional security, and sustainable economic growth.  In Ethiopia, he will meet with African Union Commission officials.  In Angola, Deputy Secretary Verma will travel with Administrator Samantha Power of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to meet with senior Angolan government officials, business and community leaders, farmers, and public health partners.
- Angola HomeReportsBureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices&#8230;Angola				hide	document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) {	if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}});																							2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Angola																																					Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor																																																																																							Download Report																																																							Translations																																																																 In this section										/																							EXECUTIVE SUMMARY																																													EXECUTIVE SUMMARY																															Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person																																																									a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings																																																																											b. Disappearance																																																																											c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Other Related Abuses																																																																			Prison and Detention Center Conditions																																																																																																																		d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention																																																																			Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees																																																																																																																		e. Denial of Fair Public Trial																																																																			Trial Procedures																																																								Political Prisoners and Detainees																																																																																																																		f. Transnational Repression																																																																											g. Property Seizure and Restitution																																																																											h. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence																																																																																	Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties																																																									a. Freedom of Expression, Including for Members of the Press and Other Media																																																																			Internet Freedom																																																																																																																		b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association																																																																			Freedom of Peaceful Assembly																																																								Freedom of Association																																																																																																																		c. Freedom of Religion																																																																											d. Freedom of Movement and the Right to Leave the Country																																																																											e. Protection of Refugees																																																																											f. Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)																																																																											g. Stateless Persons																																																																																	Section 3. Freedom to Participate in the Political Process																																																									Elections and Political Participation																																																																																	Section 4. Corruption in Government																															Section 5. Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Monitoring and Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights																															Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses																																																									Women																																																																											Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination																																																																											Children																																																																											Antisemitism																																																																											Trafficking in Persons																																																																											Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics																																																																											Persons with Disabilities																																																																											Other Societal Violence or Discrimination																																																																																	Section 7. Worker Rights																																																									a. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining																																																																											b. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor																																																																											c. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment																																																																											d. Discrimination (See section 6)																																																																											e. Acceptable Conditions of Work																																																																																																							EXECUTIVE SUMMARY				There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Angola during the year.Significant human rights issues included credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; political prisoners or detainees; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, censorship, or enforcement of or threat to enforce criminal libel laws to limit expression; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operation of nongovernmental and civil society organizations; serious government corruption; extensive gender-based violence, including domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and child, early, or forced marriage; and prohibiting independent trade unions or significant or systematic restrictions on workers’ freedom of association.The government took credible steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses. Nevertheless, accountability for human rights abuses was limited due to a lack of checks and balances, lack of institutional capacity, a culture of impunity, and government corruption.																														Section 1.													 Respect for the Integrity of the Person												    																																																a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings										There were reports the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings. Security forces sometimes used excessive force.In February, Human Rights Watch and investigative journalists reported men identifying themselves as Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) members arrested a group of eight young men in the Luanda suburb of Cacuaco whose bodies were found three days later at a nearby hospital morgue. SIC announced it would investigate the allegations.																																				b. Disappearance										There were no reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities.																																				c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Other Related Abuses										The constitution and law prohibited all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, but the government did not always enforce these prohibitions.Periodic reports continued of beatings and other abuses both on the way to and inside police stations during interrogations. The government acknowledged that at times members of the security forces used excessive force when apprehending individuals. Police authorities openly condemned some acts of violence or excessive use of force against individuals and asked victims to report abuses to national police or the Office of the Public Defender.																Prison and Detention Center Conditions						Prison and detention center conditions were harsh and life threatening due to overcrowding, a lack of medical care, corruption, and violence.Abusive Physical Conditions: Prisons had a total capacity for approximately 20,000 inmates but as of June 10, held 24,490 inmates, of which 11,937 were in pretrial detention.Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) stated prisons did not always provide adequate services, such as medical care, sanitation, potable water, or food, and it was customary for families to provide food to prisoners.Administration: The government investigated and monitored prison and detention center conditions.Independent Monitoring: The government permitted visits to prisons by independent local observers. Nevertheless, civil society organizations faced difficulties in contacting detainees, and prison authorities undermined civil society work by impeding their ability to enter the prisons.																										d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention										The law prohibited arbitrary arrest and detention and provided for the right of persons to challenge the lawfulness of their arrest or detention in court. The government did not always observe these requirements.																Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees						The law required a magistrate or judge to issue a warrant before an arrest could be made, although a person caught committing an offense could be arrested immediately without a warrant. Authorities, however, did not always procure warrants before making an arrest.By law prosecutors were required to inform detainees of the legal basis for their detention within 48 hours. NGO sources reported authorities often did not respect the law. If prosecutors were unable to determine whether there was a legal basis for the detention within 48 hours, prosecutors had the authority to release the person from detention. Depending on the seriousness of the case, prosecutors were permitted to require the detained person to submit to one or more pretrial procedures prescribed by law, such as posting bail, periodic appearance before authorities, or house arrest.If prosecutors determined a legal basis existed for the detention, a detained person could be held in pretrial detention for up to four months without charge and up to 12 months before a judge was required to rule on the matter. Cases of special complexity regarding crimes for which conviction was punishable by eight or more years allowed for pretrial detention without charge for up to six months, and up to 14 months before a judge was required to rule on the case. By law, the period of pretrial detention counted as time served in fulfillment of a sentence of imprisonment.The law stated all detainees had the right to a lawyer, either chosen by them or appointed by the government on a pro bono basis. There was an insufficient number of lawyers to handle the volume of criminal cases, and the lack of lawyers in certain provinces, particularly outside the capital, at times impeded the right to a lawyer. When a lawyer was unavailable, a judge could appoint a clerk of the court to represent the defendant, but clerks of the court often lacked the necessary training to provide an adequate defense. A functioning but ineffective bail system, widely used for minor crimes, existed. Prisoners and their families reported prison officials demanded bribes to release prisoners.The law allowed family members prompt access to detainees, but prison officials occasionally ignored this right or made it conditional upon payment of a bribe. The law allowed detainees to be held for up to 48 hours before being presented to a public prosecutor, during which time they could communicate with their lawyer or a family member. There were instances in which lawyers were not allowed to communicate with detainees during the 48-hour period.Arbitrary Arrest: According to several NGO and civil society sources, police arbitrarily arrested individuals without due process and routinely detained persons who participated, or were about to participate, in antigovernment protests, although the constitution protected the right to protest. Protesters were at times charged with crimes such as public order offenses, or insulting state entities, but most often, detained protesters were released after a few hours without charges. In September, police arrested seven activists in Luanda under charges of insulting the president while planning a protest against proposed restrictions on motorcycle taxi operations. Activists Adolfo Campos, Gilson da Silva Moreira, Hermenegildo Andre, and Abraao Pedro Santos were convicted and sentenced to 29 months’ imprisonment. The lawyer for the activists stated the charges were unjust and were meant to intimidate political dissidents. The visible presence of security forces was often enough to deter significantly what the government deemed unlawful demonstrations. In certain cases, members of groups organizing protests were arrested at their homes prior to the protest.Pretrial Detention: Excessively long pretrial detention continued to be a serious problem. An inadequate number of judges and poor communication among authorities contributed to the problem. Many prisoners were held in pretrial detention longer than permitted under law, which ranged from four to 14 months depending on the severity and complexity of the alleged crime. In some cases, authorities held inmates in prison for up to five years in pretrial detention. The length of pretrial detention at times equaled or exceeded the maximum sentence for the alleged crime. The government often did not release detainees confined beyond the legal time limit, claiming previous releases of pretrial detainees had resulted in an increase in crime.																										e. Denial of Fair Public Trial										The constitution and law provided for an independent and impartial judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial independence and impartiality. The judicial system was affected by institutional weaknesses, including political influence in the decision-making process.The national police and the Angolan Armed Forces had internal court systems that generally remained closed to outside scrutiny. Although members of these organizations could be tried under their internal regulations, cases that included violations of criminal or civil law could also fall under the jurisdiction of provincial courts. Both the Attorney General’s Office and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights had oversight responsibilities over military courts.																Trial Procedures						The constitution and law provided for the right to a fair and public trial, and the judiciary generally enforced this right.At times, authorities did not inform defendants of the charges against them in detail within 48 hours of their detention as required by law. There were long trial delays at the Supreme Court, in part because it remained the only appellate court for much of the country. No appellate courts were created during the year. According to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, all public defenders were licensed lawyers, but at times, especially in rural locations, defendants were represented by clerks of the court due to lack of availability of lawyers. Defense lawyers did not always have access to prosecution files and evidence in a timely manner to prepare a defense. Defense lawyers were not always provided with adequate facilities to prepare case work.A separate juvenile court heard the cases of children between ages of 12 and 16 accused of committing a criminal offense. Children older than 16 accused of committing a criminal offense were tried in regular courts. In many rural municipalities, there was no provision for juvenile courts, so offenders as young as 12 could be tried as adults.						Political Prisoners and Detainees						There were reports of political prisoners and detainees. On June 16, activists Paulo Clemente and Gregório Filipe were detained by police after having allegedly released social media videos calling for public participation in a protest march in Luanda on June 17. They were held for nearly a week with no charges filed.In January 2022, Luther Campos “King” was arrested at home without a warrant, accused of playing a role in a motorcycle taxi strike that month that resulted in property damage. In February, he was convicted of inciting public disorder, received a 22-month sentence, and was granted release for health reasons.																										f. Transnational Repression										Not applicable.																																				g. Property Seizure and Restitution										The government evicted persons from their places of residence or seized their property without due process or adequate restitution. On February 27, residents living in 300 houses in the Luanda suburb of Zango 3, Viana, reported they were evicted without warning by national police and their homes were subsequently destroyed, not allowing them time to retrieve belongings. Residents claimed they had lived there as long as seven years. Government sources told media the residents had built on land reserved for a public works project. Documenting land ownership often took years to complete, resulting in many residents not having a clear title to the land or home they had lived in for many years. Additionally, squatting was a common occurrence, especially in urban areas, further complicating the problem.																																				h. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence										The constitution and law prohibited such practices, but the government did not always respect these prohibitions. Civil organizations and politically active individuals, including government critics, members of opposition parties, and journalists, alleged the government monitored their activities and membership on social media and used spyware to monitor their whereabouts and telephone conversations. These groups also frequently complained of threats and harassment based on their affiliations with groups that were purportedly or explicitly critical of the government. In June, Freedom House reported the government’s ability to monitor and intercept data and communications without adequate oversight was a major concern, particularly among human rights activists and journalists. Government sources denied conducting telephone or internet surveillance without legal authorization.																																					Section 2.													 Respect for Civil Liberties												    																																																a. Freedom of Expression, Including for Members of the Press and Other Media										The constitution and law provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, but the government did not always respect this right.Freedom of Expression: Individuals were increasingly able to use private media and social media platforms to openly criticize government policies and practices. Individuals reported practicing self-censorship but generally were able to criticize government policies without fear of direct reprisal. Social media was widely used in the larger cities and provided an open forum for discussion. Activists reported the government increasingly used a law which prohibited “insult against the State, its symbols and entities” to suppress freedom of expression.In August, a social media influencer was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for insulting the president in a video posted to TikTok. In October, the public prosecutor’s office petitioned the court to raise the sentence to two years’ imprisonment. Media reported the influencer had posted videos regarding other politicians on social media networks in the months leading up to her arrest.In September, four activists were sentenced to two years and five months in prison for conviction of insulting the president during a protest against traffic regulations. One of the activists, Tanaice Neutro, had previously been convicted in 2022 under the same law.Violence and Harassment: Reporting on corruption, poor governance, and human rights abuses were the primary reasons for attacks against journalists, which often occurred with impunity. Journalists reported more incidents of violence, harassment, and intimidation than in 2022.Censorship or Content Restrictions for Members of the Press and Other Media, Including Online Media: Private television media outlets seized by the state in 2020 due to corruption investigations remained under government control. On September 5, a spokesperson for the government’s Privatization Program announced that two media outlets –TV Zimbo and the Media Nova group (Multitel, Angola Telecom, and TVCabo) – were to be privatized via public tender, at a time yet to be determined. The president appointed the leadership of all major state-owned media outlets, and state control of these outlets often led to one-sided reporting. State news outlets, including Angolan Public Television, Radio Nacional, and the Jornal de Angola newspaper, strongly favored the ruling party and often did not cover social problems reflecting poor governance or views critical of the government. Journalists working for government-controlled outlets reported threats of job losses if they did not comply with the editorial narrative of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party.In March, the online news platform Camunda News suspended operations citing continuing pressure from the SIC including threats of arrest related to allegations the platform was operating illegally.The Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERCA) was a body composed of 11 counselors designated by political parties represented in the parliament, the government, and journalists. ERCA’s responsibility was to safeguard press freedom and lawful media activity and to issue regulations and decisions on those matters. Journalists and opposition political parties criticized ERCA for being controlled by the ruling MPLA and for issuing regulations that favored the government.The Ethics and Credentialing Commission was a body exclusively composed of journalists that was authorized to license and delicense journalists. Media outlets allowing a journalist to work without credentials faced a fine of approximately 23,100 kwanza ($356), which was approximately a journalist’s monthly salary.The minister of social communication, the spokesperson of the presidency, and the national director of information maintained significant decision-making authority over media. Members of media said these individuals actively vetted news stories in the state-controlled print, television, and radio media and exercised considerable authority over some privately owned outlets.Libel/Slander Laws: Defamation was a crime punishable if convicted by imprisonment or a fine. Unlike cases in which defendants were presumed innocent until proven guilty, defendants in defamation cases had the burden of proving their innocence by providing evidence of the validity of the allegedly damaging material.Several print media, radio, and political blog journalists faced libel and defamation lawsuits. Journalists complained the government used libel laws to limit their ability to report on corruption and nepotistic practices, while the government stated some journalists abused their positions and published inaccurate stories regarding government officials without verifying the facts or providing the accused with the right of reply. In September, a Luanda District court judge charged journalist Liberato Pereira Furtado, a reporter for privately owned Radio Luanda, with defamation, slander, and false statements stemming from a 2020 news report prosecutor Elizete Francisco had misappropriated government funds of more than 16.5 million kwanza ($25,000) to her personal account. Furtado’s court case continued at year’s end.																Internet Freedom						The government did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet or censor online content.																										b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association										The government limited the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association.																Freedom of Peaceful Assembly						The constitution stated, “Freedom of assembly and peaceful, unarmed demonstration shall be guaranteed to all citizens, without the need for any authorization.” The law required written notification to the local administrator and police three days before public assemblies could be held. The law did not require government permission to hold public assemblies, but it permitted authorities to restrict or stop assemblies in public spaces near military, detention, or diplomatic buildings for security reasons, and limited protests to start after 7 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. on Saturdays.The government permitted demonstrations, including antigovernment protests, but at times prohibited events based on perceived or claimed security considerations. Police and administrators did not interfere with progovernment gatherings. Politically unaffiliated groups intending to criticize the government or government leaders often encountered the presence of police who prevented them from holding their events or limited their march routes. In such cases, authorities claimed the timing or venue requested was problematic, proper authorities had not been notified, or those protests put social stability and security at risk.On January 28, national police in Luanda halted a peaceful political march that included four members of the National Assembly, reportedly using tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd, resulting in 17 injuries. Hours apart, police halted another unrelated march before it began, arresting activists planning a march in support of political prisoners and treatment of women merchants. Both groups claimed they had informed the government in advance.On June 17, demonstrations occurred across every province in the country against an increase in fuel prices, restrictions on street vending, and a proposed law limiting NGOs and introducing government oversight. Government authorities initially allowed the demonstrations, but in some cases authorities used harsh tactics to disperse crowds or prevent them from marching.						Freedom of Association						Extensive delays in the NGO registration process continued to be a problem. NGOs that had not yet received registration were allowed to operate. At times the government arbitrarily restricted the activities of associations it considered subversive by refusing to grant permits for projects and other activities. Authorities generally permitted opposition parties to organize and hold meetings. In May, the government introduced in the National Assembly a draft law regulating NGOs, which generated strong opposition from NGOs and activists, claiming it would impose arbitrary restrictions on the independence and autonomy of NGOs, impeding freedom of association, and could be used to ban outright or limit activities of NGOs perceived to be critical of the government. The law was pending passage at year’s end.																										c. Freedom of Religion										See the Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report at  https://www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/.																																				d. Freedom of Movement and the Right to Leave the Country										The constitution and law provided for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation. The government at times restricted these rights.In-country Movement: Document checkpoints in domestic airports and on roads throughout the country were common. Reports by local NGOs suggested that, despite an incremental drop in cases, some police officers continued to extort money from civilians at checkpoints and during regular traffic stops. Reports from the diamond-mining provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul stated some government agents restricted the movements of local communities.																																				e. Protection of Refugees										The government generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees, returning refugees, and asylum seekers, as well as other persons of concern.Access to Asylum: The law provided for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government had established a system for providing protection to refugees. The law provided specific procedures for the submission of an asylum application and guidance on the determination of refugee status. Changes to the law in 2015 authorized the creation of reception centers for refugees and asylum seekers where they would receive assistance until the government decided on their cases; however, the reception centers were not yet established. The government began registration of refugees and asylum seekers in July, issuing refugee identity cards for the first time since 2015, giving refugees proof of legal residence and better access to participation in the formal economy.Freedom of Movement: UNHCR, NGOs, and refugees reported restrictions on freedom of movement in Lunda Norte Province. Refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo also reported periodic restrictions on freedom of movement from their resettlement site in Lovua, Lunda Norte Province.Employment: There were reports the government imposed restrictions on refugees’ ability to work, but refugee registration could alleviate restrictions, once fully implemented. Authorities reportedly continued to harass asylum seekers and refugees working in the informal economy.Access to Basic Services: Persons with recognized refugee status could at times obtain public services. UNHCR, NGOs, and refugees, reported urban refugees faced difficulty accessing public services such as health care and education, largely due to lack of proper identification.																																				f. Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)										Not applicable.																																				g. Stateless Persons										The government estimated there were more than 10 million unregistered citizens in the country. Children of undocumented foreign parents born in the country were at risk of statelessness due to their parents’ inability to register their births. The government during the year continued its birth registration program seeking to address this problem.																																					Section 3.													 Freedom to Participate in the Political Process												    																						The constitution and law provided citizens the ability to choose their government in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot and based on universal and equal suffrage.																										Elections and Political Participation										Abuses or Irregularities in Recent Elections: The August 2022 national elections were generally reported to be free of abuses, but observers noted media access and coverage, as well as institutional advantages, heavily favored the ruling party, and opposition parties complained of perceived irregularities during the provincial-level vote count. Local government elections – promised for more than a decade – remained unscheduled pending the completion of a final legislative package.Opposition parties criticized the slow rollout of registration centers in rural areas, changing locations of polling stations, and the presence of deceased voters remaining on the rolls. Domestic and international observers reported polling throughout the country was peaceful, orderly, and generally well organized, but they criticized the lack of political independence of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and its failure to publish voter rolls 30 days prior to election day. Opposition parties complained to the Constitutional Court regarding aspects of the electoral process, including the CNE’s lack of transparent decision making on key election procedures and perceived irregularities during the provincial-level vote count.Political Parties and Political Participation: The ruling MPLA party dominated all political institutions, giving its members advantages in obtaining civil service and government leadership jobs. Opposition parties asserted government control of most media outlets favored the MPLA. There were reports of traditional leaders in rural areas limiting political participation to a single party. By law, no political party was permitted to limit party membership based on ethnicity, race, or gender. This law was generally followed by all parties.																																					Section 4.													 Corruption in Government												    																						The law provided criminal penalties for corruption by officials, and the government generally implemented the law effectively. The government dismissed and prosecuted midlevel officials for petty corruption. There were numerous reports of government corruption during the year.Corruption: In May, the government approved a five-year National Strategy for the Prevention and Repression of Corruption, but corruption investigations in high levels of the judiciary contributed to skepticism by some analysts regarding the government’s commitment to addressing corruption. In March, Court of Auditors Chief Justice Exalgina Gamboa resigned following her indictment on suspicion of embezzlement and corruption; and the Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into President of the Supreme Court Joel Leonardo for suspicion of involvement in embezzlement, extortion, and corruption. The investigation of Leonardo continued at year’s end. Despite these investigations, activists charged corruption complaints involving high-level government personnel and their families were often not investigated.For additional information concerning corruption in the country, please see the Department of State’s Investment Climate Statement for the country, and the Department of State’s International Narcotics Strategy Control Report, which includes information on financial crimes.																											Section 5.													 Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Monitoring and Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights												    																						A variety of domestic and international human rights groups operated throughout the country, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights. Government officials were somewhat cooperative and responsive to the views of these groups. Some groups investigating government corruption and human rights abuses alleged government interference in their activities, particularly in provinces outside of Luanda.The law required NGOs to specify their activities and geographic areas of activity. The government used this provision to prevent or discourage established NGOs from engaging in certain activities, especially those that the government deemed politically sensitive.The government allowed local NGOs to carry out human rights-related work, but many NGOs reported they were forced to limit the scope of their work because they faced problems registering, were subjected to subtle forms of intimidation, and risked more serious forms of harassment and closure.Government Human Rights Bodies: The state-funded Interministerial Commission for the Writing of Human Rights Reports included representatives from various government ministries. Leading civil society members decided not to participate on the commission because they did not believe the commission was independent or effective.The 10th Commission on Human Rights of the National Assembly was charged with investigating citizen complaints of alleged human rights abuses and made recommendations to the National Assembly.An Office of the Ombudsman, with national jurisdiction, mediated between an aggrieved public party, including prisoners, and an offending public office or institution. It had neither decision-making nor adjudicative powers, however, but helped citizens obtain access to justice, advised government entities on citizen rights, and published reports.																											Section 6.													 Discrimination and Societal Abuses												    																																																Women										Rape and Domestic Violence: Rape, including spousal rape and intimate partner rape, was illegal and punishable by up to 12 years’ imprisonment if convicted, depending on aggravating situations. The government did not enforce the law effectively. Limited investigative resources, poor forensic capabilities, and an ineffective judicial system prevented prosecution of most cases. A 2021 study conducted by the NGO Mosaiko stated 53 percent of women in rural communities and urban peripheries did not report domestic violence to civil authorities, and even sexual abuse of adolescents was often addressed by the village leaders and not reported to police. Only aggravated rape cases with severe injuries and rape of children were reported to police. The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights worked with the Ministry of Interior to increase the number of women police officers and to improve police response to rape allegations.The law criminalized domestic violence and penalized convicted offenders with prison sentences of up to eight years and monetary fines, depending on the severity of their crime. The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights maintained a program with the Angolan Bar Association to give free legal assistance to women survivors of domestic abuse and established counseling centers to help families.In August, a girl, age 15, was sexually abused and allegedly killed by her former boyfriend and another man in Luanda. Police investigated the crime and apprehended the two suspects.Other Forms of Gender-based Violence or Harassment: Sexual harassment was common and not illegal. It could be prosecuted, however, under assault and battery and defamation statutes, but prosecutions were rare.Discrimination: The constitution and law provided for the same legal status and rights for women as for men. The government, however, did not enforce the law effectively, and societal discrimination against women remained a problem, particularly in rural areas. Customary law prevailed over civil law, particularly in rural areas, and at times had a negative effect on a woman’s legal right to inherit property.The law provided for equal pay for equal work, although women generally held lower-level positions, were more likely to be excluded from the formal labor market, and generally received lower pay than men. There were legal restrictions on women’s employment in occupations and industries compared with men, including in jobs deemed hazardous, factory jobs, and those in the mining, agriculture, and energy sectors.Reproductive Rights: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization on the part of government authorities.Persons living in rural areas faced more barriers to access of sexual and reproductive health services and postabortion emergency services than urban dwellers due to a lack of resources and health programs in those areas. Cultural views, such as that women had a responsibility to bear children, and religious objections to using contraception, limited access to reproductive health services. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported there were four nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 inhabitants in the country (2010-18 data). For survivors of sexual violence, the law on domestic violence provided for legal and medical assistance, access to shelter spaces, and priority care assistance to obtain legal evidence of the crime. Emergency contraception was available as clinical management of rape.According to a 2020 WHO report, the country’s maternal mortality rate was 222 deaths per 100,000 live births, a significant reduction from the rates of 431 deaths in 2007 and 827 deaths in 2000. High maternal mortality was due to inadequate access to health facilities before, during, and after giving birth, a lack of skilled obstetric care, and early pregnancy. According to WHO data, the adolescent birth rate was 163 births per 1,000 women between ages 15 and 19. A UN Population Fund report reported six of 10 teenage girls who abandoned school did so due to pregnancy. According to 2010-19 data, 30 percent of women of reproductive age had their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods. UNICEF reported 50 percent of births in the country were attended by skilled health personnel in 2016.According to an official in the Ministry of Public Administration, Labor, and Social Security, lack of running water and sanitary facilities at some schools disproportionately affected teenage girls, causing them to not attend school during their menstrual periods. The cumulative effect of lost class time was detrimental to their success in school, leading struggling students to drop out and enter the work force.																																				Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination										The law contained several provisions that criminalized discrimination based on skin color, race, and ethnicity. Reports of racial or ethnic violence were rare.																																				Children										Birth Registration: Although birth registration was universalized, the government did not register all births immediately, which blocked access to government services including education beyond sixth grade.Education: There were reports parents, especially in rural areas, were more likely to send boys to school than girls. According to UNESCO, enrollment rates were higher for boys than for girls, especially at the secondary level. The NGO Mosaiko reported girls dropped out at higher rates than boys due to insecure school environments, sexual abuse, stigma derived from early pregnancies, and the need to travel long distances to school exposing girls to sexual violence.Child Abuse: There were laws against child abuse, but they were rarely enforced. Child abuse was widespread. Reports of physical abuse within the family were commonplace, and local officials largely tolerated abuse due to lack of capacity within institutions to provide appropriate care. The Ministry of Social Action, Family and Women’s Promotion offered programs for child abuse victims and other vulnerable children, but nationwide implementation of such programs remained incomplete.Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The legal age for marriage with parental consent was 15 for girls and 16 for boys. The government did not enforce this restriction effectively, and the traditional age of marriage in lower income groups coincided with the onset of puberty.Sexual Exploitation of Children: The law prohibited the sale or use of children for commercial sexual exploitation. Police did not actively enforce laws prohibiting commercial sexual exploitation, and local NGOs expressed concern regarding the sexual exploitation of children. The law prohibited the use of children to produce pornography; however, it did not prohibit the procuring or offering of a child for the production of pornography, or the use, procuring, or offering of a child for pornographic performances.Sexual relations between an adult and a child younger than 12 were considered rape, and conviction carried a potential penalty of eight to 12 years’ imprisonment. Adult sexual relations with a child between ages of 12 and 17 were considered sexual abuse, and convicted offenders could receive sentences from two to eight years in prison. The legal age of consensual sex was 18. Limited investigative resources and an inadequate judicial system prevented prosecution of most cases. There were reports of prosecutions during the year.																																				Antisemitism										There was a Jewish community of approximately 350 persons, primarily resident Israelis. There were no known reports of antisemitic incidents.																																				Trafficking in Persons										See the Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report at  https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/.																																				Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics										Criminalization: There were no laws against consensual same-sex sexual relations.Violence and Harassment: Local NGOs reported lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons faced violence and harassment, and police often tolerated violence against LGBTQI+ individuals or against those reporting abuse, even failing to investigate or prosecute perpetrators.Discrimination: The law explicitly prohibited discrimination by state and nonstate actors based on sexual orientation, and implicitly by gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics. LGBTQI+ persons rarely reported incidents to police, however, and when reported, LGBTQI+ persons asserted police sometimes refused to register the grievances. The law did not recognize LGBTQI+ couples or their families. LGBTQI+ NGOs asserted societal biases against LGBTQI+ identity resulted in discrimination in education, employment, family life, health services, and housing. LGBTQI+ persons reported leaving school before graduating because of discrimination by teachers and classmates.Availability of Legal Gender Recognition: Legal gender recognition was not available.Involuntary or Coercive Medical or Psychological Practices: Involuntary or coercive medical or psychological practices specifically targeting LGBTQI+ individuals occurred but were not well documented.Restrictions of Freedom of Expression, Association, or Peaceful Assembly: There were no legal restrictions on freedom of expression, association, or peaceful assembly placed on LGBTQI+ groups, some of which had legal recognition as NGOs in the country.																																				Persons with Disabilities										Persons with disabilities did not have access to education, employment, health services, public buildings, and transportation on an equal basis with others. The law required such access, but disability rights groups reported the law was largely unenforced. The government provided information and communication on disability concerns in accessible formats.The law prohibited discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental disabilities, but the government did not effectively enforce these prohibitions. The constitution granted persons with disabilities full rights without restriction and called on the government to adopt national policies to prevent disability; treat, rehabilitate, and integrate persons with disabilities; support their families; remove obstacles to their mobility; educate society regarding disability; and encourage learning and training opportunities for persons with disabilities.The law also instituted a quota system to encourage the public and private sectors to employ more persons with disabilities, with the public-sector quota set at 4 percent of total employees and the private-sector quota at 2 percent. The government official responsible for overseeing programs to promote inclusion for persons with disabilities acknowledged both the private and public sectors failed to meet the quota system established by law. Persons with disabilities included more than 80,000 survivors of land mines and other explosive remnants of war. Because of limited government resources and uneven availability, only 30 percent of persons with disabilities were able to take advantage of state-provided services such as physical rehabilitation, schooling, training, or counseling.Women with disabilities were reported to be vulnerable to sexual abuse and abandonment when pregnant. The Ministry of Social Assistance sought to address problems facing persons with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, and several government entities supported programs to assist individuals with disabilities that were caused by landmine incidents.Government inaction to enforce these laws limited the ability of persons with disabilities to participate fully in civil life. Accommodations were made in the August 2022 national elections, however, to assist persons with disabilities to fully participate.																																				Other Societal Violence or Discrimination										Discrimination against those with HIV and AIDS was illegal, but lack of enforcement allowed employers to discriminate against persons with HIV. There were no media reports of violence against persons with HIV. Reports from local and international health NGOs suggested discrimination against persons with HIV was common. The government’s National Institute to Fight HIV and AIDS included sensitivity and antidiscrimination training for its employees who tested and counseled HIV patients.																																					Section 7.													 Worker Rights												    																																																a. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining										The law provided for most workers to form and join independent unions, bargain collectively, and conduct legal strikes. The law prohibited some forms of antiunion discrimination but did not explicitly prohibit employer interference with union activity. The law did not permit members of the armed forces, police, firefighters, members of sovereign bodies, and public prosecutors to form and join independent unions or initiate strikes.The government did not always enforce laws protecting freedom of association, collective bargaining, and the right to strike for workers. Government approval was required to form and join unions which limited participation. Labor unions, independent of those run by the government, worked to increase their influence, but the ruling MPLA party dominated the labor movement because of its historical close relationship with labor unions and from the strong financial base of the nation’s largest union, of which the MPLA party was a part. The government labelled many workers “essential,” beyond those sectors defined as essential by the International Labor Organization, including the transportation, communications, waste management, and fuel distribution sectors, making them ineligible for collective bargaining.The government and employers at times employed practices that limited or violated these rights by replacing striking workers and using threats of violence to end strikes.																																				b. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor										See the Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report at  https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/.																																				c. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment										See the Department of Labor’s Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor at  https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/findings/ .																																				d. Discrimination (See section 6)																																														e. Acceptable Conditions of Work										Wage and Hour Laws: A minimum wage for the formal sector existed and varied by sector. The minimum general monthly wage of 32,181.15 kwanza ($49) was less than the daily poverty rate of $2.15. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights raised concerns regarding the wide disparities of minimum wage by sector and the possibility this might undervalue work in women-dominated sectors. The lowest minimum wage was for agricultural work and was set below the UN Development Program’s official line of poverty. The minimum wage for the formal sector could be updated annually or when the government assesses economic conditions warrant. The minimum wage law did not cover workers in informal sectors, such as street vendors and subsistence farmers.The standard workweek in the private sector was 44 hours and in the public sector 35 hours. In the formal sector, there was a prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime, defined as more than two hours a day, 40 hours a month, or 200 hours a year.Occupational Safety and Health: Occupational safety and health (OSH) standards were required for all main industries in the country. Employees had the right to remove themselves from hazardous working conditions without jeopardizing their employment.Wage, Hour, and OSH Enforcement: The government effectively enforced the minimum wage law within the formal labor sector, and penalties were commensurate with those for similar infractions. Penalties were sometimes applied against violators. The Ministry of Public Administration, Labor, and Social Security was charged with implementing and enforcing labor law. An insufficient number of adequately trained labor inspectors hampered enforcement efforts. Inspectors had the authority to conduct unannounced inspections and initiate sanctions, but some companies received advance warning of impending labor inspections. The government did not always proactively enforce occupational safety and health standards nor investigate private company operations unless complaints were made by NGOs and labor unions.As much as 80 percent of the workforce (approximately nine million persons) was employed in the informal economy. The rate was higher in rural areas than urban areas (93 and 67 percent, respectively). Even in the country’s rapidly growing urban areas, self-employed informal workers provided essential services such as water, food, and transportation. Other common types of informal work included agriculture, commerce and trading, domestic work, security guards, and raising cattle.Most workers in the informal sector and part-time workers were not covered by wage or occupational safety standards or social protections.																																				    							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Respect for the Integrity of the Person																																							a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings																																																						b. Disappearance																																																						c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Other Related Abuses																																																				Prison and Detention Center Conditions																																																																																				d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention																																																				Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees																																																																																				e. Denial of Fair Public Trial																																																				Trial Procedures																																												Political Prisoners and Detainees																																																																																				f. Transnational Repression																																																						g. Property Seizure and Restitution																																																						h. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence																																																			Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties																																							a. Freedom of Expression, Including for Members of the Press and Other Media																																																				Internet Freedom																																																																																				b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association																																																				Freedom of Peaceful Assembly																																												Freedom of Association																																																																																				c. Freedom of Religion																																																						d. Freedom of Movement and the Right to Leave the Country																																																						e. Protection of Refugees																																																						f. Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)																																																						g. Stateless Persons																																																			Section 3. Freedom to Participate in the Political Process																																							Elections and Political Participation																																																			Section 4. Corruption in Government																Section 5. Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Monitoring and Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights																Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses																																							Women																																																						Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination																																																						Children																																																						Antisemitism																																																						Trafficking in Persons																																																						Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics																																																						Persons with Disabilities																																																						Other Societal Violence or Discrimination																																																			Section 7. Worker Rights																																							a. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining																																																						b. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor																																																						c. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment																																																						d. Discrimination (See section 6)																																																						e. Acceptable Conditions of Work																																																									Tags																					Angola																								Bureau of African Affairs																								Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
- Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation Senior Officials Meeting HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases&#8230;Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation Senior Officials Meeting				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation Senior Officials Meeting																																		Media Note																														February 20, 2024																																							Senior Coordinator for Atlantic Cooperation Ambassador Jessye&nbsp;Lapenn&nbsp;hosted the second virtual meeting of senior representatives from&nbsp;34&nbsp;members of the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation&nbsp;on February 15, 2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;Partnership members&nbsp;agreed&nbsp;to&nbsp;advance&nbsp;collaboration&nbsp;on marine spatial planning,&nbsp;led by Spain, Morocco, and&nbsp;Angola;&nbsp;and&nbsp;scientific&nbsp;capacity&nbsp;building&nbsp;and exchange&nbsp;led by Portugal, the United States,&nbsp;and&nbsp;others.&nbsp;&nbsp;Members also&nbsp;decided to&nbsp;convene&nbsp;a variety of workshops in 2024&nbsp;on&nbsp;issues of mutual interest such as:&nbsp;marine plastic pollution;&nbsp;abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear;&nbsp;food and nutrition security;&nbsp;and innovative financing tools for the conservation and&nbsp;sustainable&nbsp;use of&nbsp;marine resources in the&nbsp;Atlantic&nbsp;Ocean.&nbsp;The Partnership will continue to&nbsp;advance&nbsp;scientific cooperation by sharing information and building capacity.&nbsp;&nbsp;The senior officials agreed&nbsp;to support the development of marine spatial plans as a critical tool for&nbsp;sustainable economic and social development in Atlantic coastal states, and&nbsp;to foster comprehensive&nbsp;Atlantic&nbsp;Ocean data collection, sharing, and analysis.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Partnership engages in collective problem-solving of shared challenges and advances shared principles for Atlantic cooperation, as reflected in the Declaration on Atlantic Cooperation adopted in New York in September 2023.&nbsp;&nbsp;Members share a commitment to a peaceful, prosperous, open, and cooperative Atlantic region, while protecting the ocean as a healthy, sustainable, and resilient resource for generations to come.&nbsp;The Partnership welcomed several new members and&nbsp;now totals 38 coastal Atlantic countries from Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean.&nbsp;For more information, please visit the Atlantic Cooperation website.  For media inquiries, contact OES-Press@state.gov.						Tags																					Angola																								Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs																																Maritime Matters																															Morocco																								Office of the Spokesperson																								Portugal																																Scientific and Technological Cooperation																															Spain
- Department Press Briefing – January 30, 2024 HomeDepartment Press Briefing &#8211; January 30, 2024				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Department Press Briefing &#8211; January 30, 2024																																																					January 30, 2024																																																								1:25 p.m. ESTMR MILLER: Hello, everyone. It seems dark in here. It seems like you guys are in the dark a little bit. Maybe it’s just because I haven’t been here in a few days. No, there we go. Let there be light.QUESTION: And then there was light.MR MILLER: And there was light. (Laughter.) Okay. I don’t have anything to start. Matt, you want to &#8212;QUESTION: Really, you have nothing to start? Okay. So let me just start by one – to ask two separate things on the Gaza situation. One is, do you yet have a better idea of the aid – the money suspension to UNRWA, how much it is and how long it will last, that kind of thing?MR MILLER: So &#8212;QUESTION: And then I have a second, which is related but not the same.MR MILLER: So it’s a complicated question to answer, and I’ll explain why. So we have provided already in this fiscal year around $121 million to UNRWA. We are the largest donor, or historically every year have been the largest donor to UNRWA, in the world. We have remaining about 300,000 – a little more than 300,000 &#8212;QUESTION: Oh, 300,000.MR MILLER: &#8212; in funds to – that we were planning to provide to UNRWA. That funding has been suspended. That would not be the total of our funding in this fiscal year. We would provide other funding, but it’s kind of difficult – it’s really impossible to say how much that would be, because, as you know, we are operating under a continuing resolution. We don’t know how much overall funding will be available for this fiscal year, and that would impact how much that we would be able to provide UNRWA. Historically, we have typically provided somewhere between 300 and 400 million dollars a year in funding.QUESTION: So since October 1st, when the fiscal year started, you’ve given them 121 million?MR MILLER: Around 121 million. Yes.QUESTION: Okay. And then the – this 300,000 that you say was suspended that has &#8212;MR MILLER: Planning to be delivered in the next couple of weeks, and it was suspended.QUESTION: Okay. So that – so that means that you had – even in the CR or whatever the budget document is, you had only through the next couple weeks 121.3 million?MR MILLER: Around – yeah, roughly. And we &#8212;QUESTION: And then there was going to be more &#8212;MR MILLER: More funding &#8212;QUESTION: &#8212; if and when the supplemental gets passed?MR MILLER: It’s – our next scheduled payment, not officially scheduled because the supplemental and the CR have not passed, but we would anticipate would have happened sometime over the summer. And the amount of the next payment would be dependent on how much funding was contained in the supplemental and a CR, or, if not a CR, a full appropriations bill.QUESTION: But the – but the immediate impact of the temporary pause that was announced on Friday is 300,000?MR MILLER: Correct.QUESTION: And then – and, again, you don’t – you don’t know when that might be unfrozen or when the pause might be made permanent?MR MILLER: So it will depend on the investigation that UNRWA is undertaking, that the United Nations is undertaking, and whatever remedial steps they put into place.QUESTION: In the meantime, is there any way or is there any option for getting the 300,000 in suspended assistance into Gaza without going through UNRWA?MR MILLER: No, but &#8212;QUESTION: No?MR MILLER: &#8212; what I would say to that is, first of all, let me just back up and say – and we made this clear in the statement. You heard the Secretary speak to this yesterday. We very much support the work that UNRWA does. We think it’s critical. There is no other humanitarian player in Gaza who can provide food and water and medicine at the scale that UNRWA does. We want to see that work continued, which is why it is so important that the United Nations take this matter seriously, that they investigate it, that there is accountability for anyone who is found to have engaged in wrongdoing, and that they take whatever other measures are appropriate to ensure that this sort of thing cannot happen again.QUESTION: Okay. And then my second thing, which is a related but not UNRWA, which has to do with this operation that the Israelis launched in Jenin, the hospital today. What – do you have any comment on that? Is this something that you think is problematic or is it something that you look at with envy, like this is some kind of great “Mission: Impossible” mission that we wish that we could also do?MR MILLER: So I’d say that we strongly urge caution whenever operations have the potential to impact civilians and civilian installations. That of course includes hospitals. We do recognize the very real security challenges Israel faces, and its legitimate right to defend its people and its territory from terrorism. Israel, of course, has the right to carry out operations to bring terrorists to justice, but those operations need to be conducted in full compliance with international humanitarian law.QUESTION: Well, the – do those operations include going into hospitals and murdering people in their beds regardless of whether they’re &#8212;MR MILLER: So &#8212;QUESTION: &#8212; that they are suspected or even known terrorists? Is that okay with you guys?MR MILLER: So there was a lot in the premise of that question. Obviously, they – we did – do know that they went into &#8212;QUESTION: Well, you don’t think that they went in &#8212;MR MILLER: We – well, hold on.QUESTION: &#8212; and killed people who are completely innocent, do you?MR MILLER: We – so let me say that this &#8212;QUESTION: Because if you did think that, then you would be condemning it, right?MR MILLER: We certainly would, but I would say that Israel has said that these were Hamas operatives. They have said that one of them was carrying a gun at the time of the operation. So I’m not able to speak to the facts of the operation. You’d have to pass some kind of legal judgement – know all of the facts of the operation. But as a general matter, they do have the right to carry out operations to bring terrorists to justice, but they need to be conducted in full &#8212;QUESTION: Including in hospitals?MR MILLER: So we want them to conduct their operations in compliance with international humanitarian law. We would generally say that we don’t want them to carry out operations in hospitals, but under international humanitarian law, hospitals do lose some of their protections if they are being used to – for the planning of terrorist operations, for the execution of terrorist operations.QUESTION: The actual hospital – the actual hospital building does. But I mean, going in disguised as women and doctors and whatever is something different, and then going in and picking out people in particular rooms and particular beds and killing them seems to be something different.MR MILLER: So again, not able to offer an assessment without knowing all these facts. I said some of the facts that have been presented by Israel are that one of them was carrying a gun and that they were planning to carry out or to launch terrorist operations. So you would have to look at all of those facts to make a specific assessment about this operation. But in general, we do want to see hospitals protected. It is important that no civilians were harmed in this operation, but – and as I said, we want – we do believe Israel has &#8212;QUESTION: So how do you know – how do you know that?MR MILLER: There have been no reports of civilians who have been harmed in this operation.QUESTION: Can I follow up on that, please?MR MILLER: Go ahead, Said.QUESTION: Thank you. Actually, on both points. But on this particular one, I mean, Israel occupies the whole West Bank. They are under their control. They don’t need to disguise themselves as medics and go into a hospital and kill people, which you called non-civilians. They are actually civilians, but that’s beside the point. So &#8212;MR MILLER: I – so that is very much – but hold on.QUESTION: Just allow me. Allow me just to follow up.MR MILLER: No, Said, but before you call someone a civilian that Israel has said is a member of Hamas, I need to put on the record that that is very much a question that’s in dispute.QUESTION: There are civilian members of Hamas; it’s a political organization. I mean, you may disagree with their politics, but that does not make them militants, right? Or &#8212;MR MILLER: I would very much &#8212;QUESTION: Okay.MR MILLER: I would very much disagree with that, Said.QUESTION: That is &#8212;MR MILLER: They’re a terrorist organization as have been &#8212;QUESTION: Right, but that &#8212;MR MILLER: &#8212; have been designated by the United States of America.QUESTION: Right, but that’s an accusation of the occupier, a military occupier. They are making the accusation. I want to ask you: Is that a conduct befitting a state or a group of gangsters to go in and kill people, assassinate them as they sat in their beds?MR MILLER: So &#8212;QUESTION: Is that the conduct of a state? Will the United States ever do something like this under similar circumstances?MR MILLER: So, Said, I am going to first of all note for the record, because it is important to note for the record, that Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the brutal murder of 1,200 people on October 7th and &#8212;QUESTION: We’re talking about the Bank, the West Bank. We’re talking about the West Bank, not Gaza.MR MILLER: &#8212; and there are members of Hamas – and there are members of Hamas in the West Bank. And in addition to carrying out the brutal murder &#8212;QUESTION: Right.MR MILLER: &#8212; of 1,200 people on October 7th, has hid behind civilians in Gaza and been responsible for the death of many, many Palestinian civilians who they use as human shields. So before we talk about the people who died in this operation, I think it’s important to talk about who Hamas is, and it is not just – it is not a political organization, Hamas. It is – or Said. It is a terrorist organization that has carried out terrorist acts to kill civilians and has said it wants to continue to carry out those terrorist acts over and over again, and that context is important because Israel has the right to carry out antiterrorism operations to bring members of Hamas to justice. But as I said, we want them to be carried out in full &#8212;QUESTION: I am asking you &#8212;MR MILLER: Said, let me finish – in full compliance with international humanitarian law.QUESTION: I’m asking you: Is this a conduct befitting a state that controls every single person in that whole territory?MR MILLER: We think it is appropriate that they have the ability to bring members of Hamas to justice.QUESTION: Fair enough, fair enough. That’s your answer.MR MILLER: But that – but, as I said, it needs to be done in compliance with international humanitarian law.QUESTION: Let me ask you on the UNRWA thing. Now, you’re cutting off aid at a time when several human rights officials are really warning that Gaza is on the verge of starvation. I mean, this is – it’s a real possibility. These people are facing famine and starvation, and you cut off aid because there is, allegedly, 12 people that are members of Hamas or have done this and so on, out of 12,000 employees. I mean, nobody talks about 158 employees by UNRWA – employed by UNRWA that were killed by the Israelis. But I want to go back to the issue of famine and the likelihood of starvation and famine and so on. What is your response to that?MR MILLER: So the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire. You have seen us focus from the beginning of this conflict on trying to improve the humanitarian situation. You’ve seen the Secretary travel to Israel to press Israeli officials to allow more humanitarian assistance to flow into Gaza. We have a special envoy we appointed who is in the region working every day on increasing the amount of food and water and medicine that goes into Gaza. And you have heard us say – and the Secretary traveled and met with members of UNRWA in the region – how important the work that UNRWA is – or that UNRWA does is to Gaza and to civilians in Gaza, and it’s important that work be continued. And I would say it is because that work is so important that it is also important that UNRWA and the United Nations take this investigation seriously.I note the – you said “allegedly,” and that is very much true, but UNRWA found that the evidence that was presented to them was credible enough that they fired eight of these employees and have suspended two others. And so we think the work’s important, but this is an investigation that needs to be conducted thoroughly. There needs to be accountability. If appropriate, there need to be remedial measures to ensure that this can’t happen again. And there’s no reason that the United Nations can’t do this investigation quickly. And in fact, because of the important work that UNRWA does, it’s important that they do carry out this investigation quickly.QUESTION: So what would be satisfactory for the United States and its allies to sort of say, okay, aid will resume?MR MILLER: So I will only speak for the United Nations – or for the United States, not for other countries. But the steps that I just outlined are what we want to see, a full investigation. And as we said in the statement we put out on Friday and we have said since then, we welcome the investigation that the United Nations has launched. We want to see accountability. We’ve seen initial steps to accountability in that UNRWA has fired eight of the employees and suspended two others while they conduct the investigation. And we want to see measures put in place to ensure, to the extent possible, that this can never happen again. And so we are engaging with UNRWA. We are engaging with the United Nations about what those steps ought to look like. I won’t read out the details of those conversations, but they are in the buckets that I just outlined.QUESTION: Thank you.MR MILLER: Simon, go ahead.QUESTION: I want to come back to the ICJ ruling last week, because you haven’t had a briefing since then. Before the ruling, your colleague – we were asking what the U.S. view would be on whether Israel is compelled to follow what the court was asking it to do. I wonder, you have responded to the – the State Department has responded to the ruling, but on the specific – I guess one specific thing that the ruling requested of Israel is to report within a month on what it’s doing to ensure that genocide isn’t taking place. Is that something that the U.S. is calling on Israel to comply with?MR MILLER: So I will say that a number of the things the court called on for Israel to do are things that we have said in our public statements and in fact in our private meetings with Israel. We’ve wanted to see them do more to allow humanitarian assistance to go into Gaza. We’ve wanted to see them do more to ensure that civilians are protected. And I will say we respect the court’s decision; we respect their ruling, as we said last week. And we expect Israel to determine what it has to do to comply with that ruling. It’s not a ruling that’s directed to us; it’s a ruling that’s directed to Israel. But we do expect them to determine what they need to do to comply with the court’s ruling, and we’ll be engaging with them about that matter.QUESTION: After there’s a ruling, you’re able to say, okay, we’re happy with everything in here so our partner Israel should comply with what they – the way they deem &#8212;MR MILLER: I think that we never want to address hypotheticals before they happen. So yes, we’re willing to comment on things after they happen, but not hypotheticals before they do. That’s general standing practice.QUESTION: I mean, you might call this a hypothetical, but the court is also going to rule on Friday this week on – regarding the case with Ukraine and Russia. In that case, would you expect states to comply with what the ICJ says?MR MILLER: I can guarantee that we will have something to say about that ruling after it happens. I wouldn’t want to preview what that would be. But as is true in this case, we certainly respect the court and its decisions.QUESTION: Could I just follow up briefly on your response?MR MILLER: Yeah.QUESTION: When you said that you expect Israel – we expect them to determine what they need to do to comply, is that different from comply?MR MILLER: Yeah – I don’t want – only because the court had a number of things that it prescribed and I don’t want to tick through those one by one, because they are not orders that were directed at us. We do expect Israel to comply with the ruling, but in terms of what the specific steps are, I would expect them to determine that, not the United States.Yeah, go ahead.QUESTION: Back to the UN, Wall Street Journal’s reporting that they’ve reviewed intelligence that shows 1,200 UNRWA staffers have ties to Islamic Jihad. Does State have any concerns that the ties to terrorists among the staff goes at all beyond those 12, 13 who have been named in the &#8212;MR MILLER: So this is a matter that we want to see investigated, and it is why we think an investigation is so important and that it be conducted thoroughly and it be conducted promptly. And we very much look forward to seeing the outcome of that investigation.QUESTION: Are you concerned that that investigation is being – I mean, the UN has said a couple of times in public statements that it’s an independent investigation, but it’s very much not. It’s being conducted by a UN internal office. Do you have full trust that the U.S. is going to investigate itself and these allegations fairly?MR MILLER: We do have confidence in the UN’s ability to conduct this investigation. We have been engaging with them about what that investigation might look like. I will keep those conversations private, but we do broadly have faith in their ability to investigate this. We’ve welcomed the initial steps that they have taken, but the proof will be in the pudding. I don’t want to judge anything in advance. We want to see a full, transparent, complete, prompt investigation, and any remedial steps that it recommends, as appropriate, we want to see implemented.QUESTION: Any expectations for how long the investigation might kind of come to a conclusion? Are you thinking weeks, month?MR MILLER: I would defer to the United Nations on that specific question, but I would say because the humanitarian situation is so urgent in Gaza, that just highlights how important it is that they do conduct this investigation promptly, conduct it thoroughly, and take any actions as – that they need to take to remedy the situation as soon as possible.QUESTION: And what mechanisms are you guys looking – meaning if this investigation finds that these – the firings were rightfully made, that these individuals helped Hamas carry out the October 7th attacks, is – what kind of action – do you guys want to see sort of criminal indictments against these folks?MR MILLER: Certainly we would welcome full accountability. We would demand full accountability, and of course that could include prosecutions for anyone that had violated the law.Go ahead.QUESTION: On the hostage talks, Matt, officials, including the Secretary, have been publicly telegraphing optimism around this latest round of talks. Can you give us any details on what’s underscoring these public pronouncements of hope and a strong proposal on the table?MR MILLER: So let me echo something the Secretary said yesterday, which is: the less said about these, the better. As the Secretary noted, we do believe it is a strong proposal that’s on the table. We do believe it’s a proposal that – or not – it is a proposal that would lead to – could lead to a sustained pause in fighting and the return of hostages, something that has been a goal of the United States and other countries in the region. So we hope this proposal will be accepted; we hope it’ll be implemented. And we hope to see a pause in fighting and hostages returned to their families, and we’ll keep working on it. But as to any underlying details, I’m not – I don&#8217;t think I should comment on them.QUESTION: Does the U.S. have any comment on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comment’s today sort of doubling down on this maximalist approach, saying they would not pull out troops from Gaza, saying – keeping to these maximalist aims and saying they wouldn’t release thousands of terrorists in exchange &#8212;MR MILLER: I don’t. I think I will – as I said, I think when it comes to this very delicate matter, the less said the better. And I think we’ll do our negotiating in private, not public.QUESTION: And then on the UN assessment mission that the Secretary announced on his last trip to Israel, do you have any updates on when that might happen, the scope, anything?MR MILLER: Yeah. So I don&#8217;t know if we’ve said this from here, but the assessment mission was delayed because of a renewed outbreak in fighting in the north. We saw Hamas fighters pop up and start launching rocket attacks into Israel, start shooting at Israeli forces. That made the conditions on the ground not tenable for conducting this humanitarian mission, not safe to conduct an assessment mission.We have been engaging with the United Nations and with the Government of Israel on this matter. As you know, it’s something we’ve said and we want to see launched as soon as possible. We do expect some initial movements north to take place in the next few days to pave the groundwork for that assessment mission to move forward. And our hope would be, as I said, after that initial step takes place, that the assessment mission itself could move forward really just as soon as possible.QUESTION: What sort of paving has to be done for this to take place?MR MILLER: They have to assess conditions on the ground. You actually have to assess – before you can send the assessment mission in, you have to assess security conditions, the conditions of the road, how you would move and where, and some kind of factual and logistics things like that, to make sure that the assessment mission itself can be conducted as safely as possible. That’s what we anticipate happening over the next few days to pave the way for the assessment mission to go forward.QUESTION: And then – last question – a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote to the Secretary asking for answers about his use of an emergency declaration to send arms to Israel last month twice. Does the – or the building intend to respond to their questions by February 9th? Any comment on that letter?MR MILLER: So we always welcome engagement with Congress, and we will engage with them on this question, as we always do. I would say that the process that the Secretary followed and the process that we followed here at the State Department is the process that the law actually prescribes. There are two procedures for providing arms sales to foreign countries – well, more than that, but two in this specific section of the law.One of them allows for us to go to Congress and provide Congress with notice, and there’s a review period. And the other specifically prescribes a situation in which there is an emergency need for transfer of arms, that we can provide that arms – that we can provide those arms through a different process, and that is the process that we carried out. So I see this described all the time as bypassing Congress. In fact, what we’re doing is following the statute that Congress passed.And so we – and I will add that in each of these two situations when we did it, we did it in consultation with leading members of Congress, and we’ll, of course, continue to do that with respect to all of our arms transfers.Shaun &#8212;QUESTION: Can I go to another region?MR MILLER: Yeah, of course.QUESTION: Do we have more on the Mideast? Venezuela.MR MILLER: Yeah.QUESTION: The statement that you issued this morning – it gives a date of April, I believe it is, for these sanctions to go into effect. Is there some hope that this could actually change the Maduro – that Maduro could actually – that Venezuela could allow opposition candidates in by then?MR MILLER: So we very much hope that they will abide by the agreement that Maduro’s representatives reached in Barbados. We very much hope that they will uphold the electoral roadmap agreement. That would mean announcing an electoral calendar that is agreed upon with democratic opposition. It would mean that the – an audit and update of the electoral registry, the release of additional political prisoners. And most importantly, it would mean that all democratic opposition political candidates could freely participate in the 2024 presidential election. And that is, of course, not what we have seen.So we very much hope that the government will reverse the steps it’s taken. But we are ready to snap back our sanctions if they don’t. As you saw, what we announced today, there is one general license with respect to gold trading that we have already revoked. There is another one that is set to expire in April that pertains to the oil industry. And absent a change in course from the government, we will allow that general license to expire, and our sanctions will snap back into place.So we went into this process with good faith. We wanted to accomplish several things. One, we wanted to secure the release of the ten Americans who are being held by Venezuela – six wrongfully detained and four others. We wanted to secure the release of a fugitive from justice. We were able to accomplish both of those things. We wanted to see Venezuela get back on the path to democracy, and we all made clear that if they didn’t we had the ability to snap back our sanctions, and we remain willing and committed to doing so if they do not change course.QUESTION: Where does that leave U.S. policy if it’s been a failure, not necessarily because of the U.S., but if it’s been a failure to restore democracy? Does that mean that Maduro will go to pariah status, to the idea that he’d be considered illegitimate, that perhaps the U.S. would recognize someone somebody else?MR MILLER: So I would say, first of all, with respect to the premise of the question – I know you did limit it to free elections, to the democratic process, but I don&#8217;t want to lose sight of the fact that we were able to secure the release of 10 Americans, which was a very important goal of this policy and this agreement in the first place, and we’re glad to see those 10 Americans home with their families.With respect to democracy, look, I’m not ready to write the end of the story yet. We have seen them take very concerning steps, and you’ve seen the response from the United States today. There is still time for the Maduro regime to change course. There is still time for them to allow a free and fair election. We are hopeful that that’s what they’ll do, but if they don’t, we are prepared to implement our sanctions.QUESTION: Sure. Let me just ask something completely different. Do you have any reaction on ECOWAS? I’m going to Africa. Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have formally said that they’re leaving ECOWAS and it’s quote/unquote under control of foreign powers, which presumably means the U.S. or maybe the French. Do you have any reaction to that, and where that leaves U.S. diplomacy in this region?MR MILLER: So we are closely monitoring those developments. We are in close communication with ECOWAS itself and with member states. It’s a matter – not this withdrawal, but of course the general matter is a topic the Secretary discussed in his meetings in Africa last week when we traveled to four countries on the continent. We continue to support the efforts of ECOWAS and member states to bring peace, security, and prosperity to the region. We also continue to promote African-led solutions.I will go back to what we said before, which is that we believe that the collaborative efforts that regional organizations like ECOWAS play are crucial in fostering peace, security, and economic development, and we will continue to engage with them and encourage – continue to encourage all parties in the region to engage in constructive dialogue to find common ground.QUESTION: But just to put a point on it, I mean, are you calling for them to reverse this, to stay in ECOWAS, work with ECOWAS?MR MILLER: Look, we would certainly welcome them to continue to work with ECOWAS. There are a number of steps that these particular three countries, we would call on them to do. We would call all of them to return on the path to democracy, in addition to continuing to engage with ECOWAS. And we will – what we will do is consult with the members of ECOWAS and our other partner countries in the region on the best way to try to encourage these states to return to democracy, or at least return to a path towards democracy.QUESTION: Sure. I won’t take up too much more time, but just one completely separate issue as well, Pakistan.MR MILLER: I love the tour of the – you’re like – you got me, like, hopping all over the world.QUESTION: I was trying to get to each continent, but Australia probably not today. (Laughter.)MR MILLER: Can we do – can we – if you can get an Antarctica question, that will be a first.QUESTION: I would love to. That sounds like &#8212;MR MILLER: I’d have to take it back, I’m sure.QUESTION: And then New Caledonia.MR MILLER: Please don’t. (Laughter.)QUESTION: Sure. No, but in serious, on Pakistan. I &#8212;MR MILLER: Yeah.QUESTION: I’m sure you’re not going to have much to say about this, but the &#8212;MR MILLER: I think there are people in the room who are waiting to ask about Pakistan. But go ahead. Go ahead. You &#8212;QUESTION: Well, you know what I’m going to ask. The prison sentence to Imran Khan just before the election, does the U.S. have anything to say about this? Is this in keeping with democratic values?MR MILLER: Sure. It is a legal matter ultimately for Pakistan’s courts. We have been following the case – the cases, I should say, plural – brought against the former prime minister but don’t have any comment on the sentencing. As we have stated consistently, we continue to call for the respect of democratic principles, human rights, and the rule of law in Pakistan, as we do around the world.QUESTION: So specifically on Imran Khan &#8212;MR MILLER: It’s a matter for the Pakistani courts. Yeah. Alex, go ahead.QUESTION: Can we follow up on Africa?MR MILLER: I’ll come to you next. I just called on Alex.QUESTION: Just to follow up a little bit about Iran, given the fact that there is a mounting pressure for a more significant response, the Secretary yesterday said that we will do it “at a time and place of our choosing.” The fact that nothing has happened yet, is this the &#8212;MR MILLER: That wasn’t even 24 hours ago, Alex. (Laughter.)QUESTION: Is it the part of strategy?MR MILLER: So I’m just like – that was less than 24 hours ago that the Secretary said that.QUESTION: So yeah, as my – but my obvious follow-up is &#8212;MR MILLER: So just it’s important to – it’s important to point that out. (Laughter.)QUESTION: But the obvious follow-up is: Is it a part of strategy?MR MILLER: What’s that?QUESTION: Is it a part of strategy that nothing has happened yet?MR MILLER: Is it &#8212;QUESTION: A part of strategy. As the administration is pondering over what to do, its next step, what is your response to critics that you might have wasted some time?MR MILLER: So I would say that when we say “at a time and place of our choosing,” you should focus on the word “our,” not “your.” It’s a time and place of our choosing, not yours. And as the Secretary also said, we’re not going to telegraph the response in advance, we’re not going to telegraph the nature of the response or the timing of the response, and no one should read anything into that about when, where, or how that response might take place. But as he said, it could be multi-level, it could come in stages, and it could be sustained over time.QUESTION: But can you speak to the objectives that you are trying to achieve here? Is it more than just this is completely wrong and don’t do it again, or it’s more than just sending a message? Are you going to go after troublemakers &#8212;MR MILLER: So as the President said, we are going to hold accountable those who were responsible for the death of three U.S. soldiers.QUESTION: Does the administration consider IRGC facilities, drone facilities in Iran, as a legitimate target now that they are targeting you?MR MILLER: Again, I don’t want to preview any steps that we might take. As you have heard multiple members of this administration say, we do not seek conflict with Iran, we do not want to see escalation of this conflict, we do not believe that escalation in the interests of the United States, not in the interests of Iran, it’s not in the interests of anyone in the region. But at the same time, we will take the appropriate steps to defend U.S. personnel, defend U.S. interests, and to hold accountable those who go after and injure and harm and kill U.S. personnel.QUESTION: Okay, I appreciate that. But the question is: Do you consider IRGC facilities as a legitimate target? You might not choose that as an option, but is it a legitimate target?MR MILLER: Again, I don’t have any further comment than what I just &#8212;QUESTION: Matt &#8212;MR MILLER: I promised I’d go – I’d go here next.QUESTION: The Secretary’s visit to Africa.MR MILLER: Yeah.QUESTION: Can you shed a little bit the Secretary’s impression of Angola while he was visiting Angola? And also, was the Secretary able to accomplish the objectives they took there to Angola?MR MILLER: Yeah. So I can speak to his impressions of Angola, but I would also encourage you to look at the comments that the Secretary himself made at a press conference in Luanda with the foreign minister of Angola, where he talked about his visit to the country and the investments that we have made in Angola and the economic partnership we have with Angola. And I know the Secretary welcomed the chance to visit the continent, to visit Angola specifically. As you may know, we discussed investments in the Lobito Corridor and the railroad that’s being built, an 800-kilometer railroad that’s being built across the African continent, which we believe will significantly improve economic development in Angola and neighboring countries and will improve the economic partnership between Angola and the United States.The Secretary also was able to engage with the president of Angola about regional security issues. And the Secretary welcomed the opportunity to visit the continent, enjoyed it a great deal, and thought he was – one of the things you might have heard him say while he was there, thought it was important to be there not just to talk, but to listen.QUESTION: So – and beside the Lobito Corridor, is there any other area that U.S. will be focused in Angola? I heard something about food.MR MILLER: Sure. There were a number of things we discussed. I would refer you to the comments that we made. But he also did talk about our VACS program while we were in Angola, in which we focus on improving seeds and soil to combat climate change. I’d refer you to all of the comments he made while he was there for further information.QUESTION: But what about the other countries that the Secretary also visit? How do you summarize the visit to Africa?MR MILLER: It was an extremely productive trip and it was, I will say from our perspective, an extremely productive trip because the Secretary was able to engage in bilateral communications with each of the four countries that he visited, but also because he was able to engage with the people of Africa, didn’t just attend – was fortunate enough that we didn’t just attend government meetings but also engaged in a number of meetings with civil society and others. And he came away heartened with the cooperation that the U.S. can do with partners on the African continent.QUESTION: And one last question. Is this some kind of preparation for President Biden to visit Africa soon?MR MILLER: No, the President very much has made clear that Africa is a priority and he remains intent on traveling to Africa, but this trip was separate from any presidential travel.Nike, go ahead.QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. On the Taliban, Chinese President Xi Jinping has accepted credentials from dozens of ambassadors in Beijing today, including an ambassador from Afghanistan from the Taliban government. So practical-wise, as an international practice, does the United States consider such act as an official recognition of the Taliban government?MR MILLER: So I’ve seen those reports, and I think I would let the Chinese Government speak to what this means in terms of their relationship and whether they have formally recognized the Taliban or not. I’ve seen some comments from them to the contrary.As we have said on behalf of the United States to the Taliban in public and in private, their relationship with the international community depends entirely on their actions, and we will be looking to see them take a different course of action than they have to date.QUESTION: Would the United States urge China to use its influence over the Taliban to improve the rights of the women and girls?MR MILLER: So we very much want to see the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan improved, and we would urge any country that engages with the Taliban to urge improvement on that front.Go ahead, yeah.QUESTION: Thank you so much. I have two questions.MR MILLER: Okay.QUESTION: First of all, almost 47 journalists got notices from the Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency, FIA, under the charges of like disseminating. And this is something like international journalistic bodies have concerns like this is another threat for free speech. So how U.S. will see this development? How will you respond? Basically, already the free speech is under threat as general elections up ahead.And secondly, Iranian foreign minister entered in talks with Pakistani foreign minister in Islamabad, said there is a third country that is involved in Iran and Pakistan to attack each other or something, like creating fear. So how do you respond this?MR MILLER: There is a third country?QUESTION: Yes, a third country is involved both in Iran and Pakistan doing terrorism for the both countries.MR MILLER: So I don’t have any comment on that. And with respect to the first question, I’m not familiar with the reports. Let me take it back and get you an answer.Go ahead.QUESTION: Yeah, and thank you, Matt. Yesterday, the Pentagon said that Kata’ib Hizballah in Iraq has some footprint of that attack that happened in Jordan, but today the Kata’ib Hizballah Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, the secretary general of Kata’ib Hizballah in Iraq, they pushed a statement and they said that we announce the suspension of all our attacks on the U.S. troops in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi Government, but if the United States will respond in attacking us, then we will resume our attacks. So how do you see this statement from the Kata’ib Hizballah?And then, do you hold the Iraqi Government in any way responsible for not preventing these militia groups attacking your forces in Iraq, in Syria, and in Jordan?MR MILLER: So I typically make it a practice not to respond to statements from terrorist organizations from the podium here. I will say, as we have said before, that we will hold accountable any organization that we find to be responsible for attacks on U.S. personnel in the region. As it pertains to the Government of Iraq, of course we have said that we want to see the Government of Iraq do more to hold accountable, to investigate, to arrest, to prosecute those who are responsible for attacks on U.S. forces, but we will also take steps to defend those forces ourselves, and that’s what you can expect us to do.QUESTION: Yeah. Yesterday, you announced some sanctions on the Al-Huda Bank and the owner of that bank, Hamad al-Moussawi. Hamad al-Moussawi is a member of the parliament of Iraq, and he is a part of the coalition framework which – forming the current Iraqi Government. So do you still believe that there are some companies and banks in Iraq that are funding these groups and these groups are – get funding from these people, from the parliament and from the Iraqi Government, and they are using these funds to attacking you? So how do you deal with that situation in Iraq, that the Iraqi Government knows these people very clearly? Even 10 years ago, the Iraqi parliament made a statement that this guy, he is funding the militia groups and Iranian with the U.S. dollar.MR MILLER: So I’m not going to make a comment with respect to that specific person, other than to say that we do of course expect the Iraqi Government to take action to hold accountable anyone that supports terrorism, that finances terrorism, and we’ll continue to engage with them in that regard.QUESTION: And are you taking action?MR MILLER: Continue – we will continue to engage with them on that regard.Go ahead.QUESTION: This is about Imran Khan. What would you say when you observe that all government institutions and others going after a key political figure in Pakistan before the elections and trying to keep him out of power? Don’t you think that such tactics are creating fractures in the structure of democracy in Pakistan?MR MILLER: So the prosecution of the former prime minister is a legal matter and we would defer to the Pakistani courts with respect to a legal matter, but of course we want to see the democratic process unfold in a way that allows broad participation for all parties and respects democratic principles. We don’t take a position, as you have heard us say before, about internal Pakistani matters, and we don’t take a position with respect to candidates for office in Pakistan. We want to see a free, fair, and open democratic process, and when it comes to legal matters, those are matters for the Pakistani courts to decide.QUESTION: General elections are in next eight or nine days in Pakistan. Do you think that – do you believe that it will be, like, free and fair when you’re sentencing a former prime minister?MR MILLER: We certainly want to see a free and fair election, and we will be monitoring how that proceeds over the next week to 10 days.Go ahead.QUESTION: Thank you.MR MILLER: I’ll come to you in a minute.QUESTION: Thank you, Matt.MR MILLER: Yeah.QUESTION: The Wall Street Journal reports India’s inclusion in a Canadian inquiry on Bangladesh on election interference, aligning with China and Russia. India’s involvement has also surfaced in Bangladesh election interference to keep Sheikh Hasina in power. The Bangladesh ruling foreign minister last week publicly asserts India’s support for their victory, similar to the 2014 and 2018 one-sided elections. Critics claim the U.S. is pushing back on democracy promotion in Bangladesh due to Indian influence. How do you respond?MR MILLER: So I don’t have a response with respect to the Canadian inquiry that you referenced. That’s a matter for Canada to speak to. I will say with respect to Bangladesh, democracy – as we have said any number of times as it pertains to Bangladesh and others – advances peace, prosperity, and security. It is at the center of the United States’ foreign policy and we continue to engage with the Bangladeshi Government to advance democratic principles, which are key to ensuring peace and prosperity for all Bangladeshis.QUESTION: The Human Rights Commission – one more, Matt, please.MR MILLER: Sure.QUESTION: The Human Rights Commission calls for the immediate release of detained political activities – activists in Bangladesh. The regime arrested 25,000 opposition members, including top opposition leaders, BNP leaders, to manipulate the January 7th sham election. What steps is the U.S. taking against the authoritarian regime for undermining democracy given the pre-elections visa restriction policy?MR MILLER: So you have heard me speak about our concerns about the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh before. We did not find them to be free and fair. We have also expressed our concerns with the arrest of thousands of political opposition members in the run-up to those elections.I will say two things. One, we urge the Bangladeshi Government to ensure a fair and transparent legal process for all of the arrested individuals. We also urge the Bangladeshi Government to allow opposition members and media professionals, civil society representatives, to participate meaningfully in the country’s democratic process and civic life, and we will continue to engage with the Bangladeshi Government to advance that point of view.QUESTION: Thank you.MR MILLER: Go ahead, and I’ll come to you next. Go ahead.QUESTION: The Iranian regime continue to deepen its tie with the Taliban in order to integrate them into the axis of resistance. Would you be worried if the Taliban fighter show up in the Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to fight alongside Iran’s proxy against the Israel and the other U.S. allies?MR MILLER: So certainly I would say what we have said to a number of countries and organizations in the region, which is we do not want to see this conflict widened, we do not want to see it escalated, and anyone, whether it’s in a country or an organization or an individual who is thinking about using this opportunity – using the crisis in the Middle East to try and advance their own goals, that they should very much think again.Ryan, go ahead.QUESTION: Just wanted to pick up on his Pakistan question, because you said earlier that that’s a matter for the Pakistani courts. When it came to Venezuela, that’s a political matter, it seems. The Venezuelan courts, of course, approved Maduro’s banning of the party. Now, you could say that court is under Maduro’s thumb, it’s a kangaroo court, but in Pakistan, the prosecution was held in secret. Just recently, the – his attorney – Imran Khan’s attorneys were kept out of the courtroom and they took attorneys from the prosecution team and made him – and put them on the defense team. Like, the – nothing about that prosecution seems less than kangaroo. So why would Venezuela’s be a political case, but when it comes to Pakistan that’s a matter for the Pakistani courts?MR MILLER: So they are different situations, and we have not yet made that conclusion with respect to the Pakistani legal process. When you look at Venezuela, we are looking at the entire history of the Maduro regime in cracking down on democracy and, most importantly in this case, failing to carry out the commitments that they made to allow candidates to run. It’s a commitment that they made that the country has reneged on, and that’s why we were able to make the assessment in that case.QUESTION: There might still be a determination on the Pakistan question?MR MILLER: I just don’t – I don’t have anything to preview, but it’s not one that we’ve made at this time.QUESTION: Well, I can’t do this right now because my battery is about – my phone battery is about to die, but when I go back to my desk and look up in the Human Rights Reports for the last year on Pakistan, it will say that the U.S. has confidence that the Pakistan judiciary is fully independent and free of political influence?MR MILLER: I do not – I do not know what that report will say, but that’s not an assessment we’ve made with respect to this specific case, so – go ahead. And then we’ll wrap for the day.QUESTION: Thank you very much, Matt. Just following up a small question on my colleague’s with regards to Pakistan and Imran Khan conviction. So basically you are happy with President Biden’s foreign policy with regard to Pakistan since last three, four years you think the U.S. has gained more respect in the ordinary eyes of Pakistani people? Like you think Biden administration has done well, basically?MR MILLER: So I’m not going to speak to the views of the people of Pakistan. They can obviously speak for themselves, but we have engaged to promote stability in the region, to advance democracy in Pakistan, and to deepen economic ties between the United States and Pakistan, which will ultimately improve the lives of the Pakistani people. And we – that’s the policy that we will continue to pursue.QUESTION: And just one more question, and this question I’m a little bit disappointed with the kind of response you gave to my colleague about the Chinese-Taliban relations &#8212;MR MILLER: I’m glad to hear you passing judgment on my answers to questions.QUESTION: Yes. Yes.MR MILLER: That’s usual journalistic tactics. (Laughter.)QUESTION: I am a little bit offended because the U.S. has much big – well, because the U.S. had a much stronger response to that since decades, and the way you expressed it was very disappointing. With regards to girls’ education in Afghanistan, the U.S. has since the birth – since the beginning of the Taliban in the ’90s, girls’ education was one of the reason why media outlets like and me and the U.S. administration here from this podium – I mean, you took it very light, that you think that building relationship with Taliban without girls’ education is a small thing, basically? Is that what you are giving hint here? I mean &#8212;MR MILLER: I think you are taking the opposite interpretation from my remarks than what I said, which is that we very much want to see the rights of women and girls improved in Afghanistan.QUESTION: So – but that is very weak statement.MR MILLER: What is the – so let me just &#8212;QUESTION: The U.S. has stood by the &#8212;MR MILLER: Do you have a question?QUESTION: The U.S. has supported this girls’ education issue in a much stronger sense, and – I am just trying to say that &#8212;MR MILLER: And – we are – this is the last – this is the last, I think, question of the briefing. So let me just say do you have a question before we close?QUESTION: Okay. So basically what I’m saying is the U.S.’s stake has to – has become a little softer with regards to girls’ education and that is &#8212;MR MILLER: So I would &#8212; QUESTION: Taliban have ruined the whole religion of Islam by not allowing girls, so that’s – that’s &#8212;MR MILLER: I would disagree with that. And in fact, if you listen to what I said in my comments earlier about Afghanistan, I said that for the Taliban to gain international recognition, it very much depends on the steps that it takes. And one of the steps that we would expect to see them take would be to improve the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan.And with that, we’ll wrap for the day.QUESTION: Thank you.QUESTION: Can I just follow up on something?MR MILLER: Yeah.QUESTION: The way Nike asked the question about China and how they’re receiving the Taliban – I know you mentioned the U.S. policy with the Taliban, but do you have any concerns about China actually receiving a representative of the Taliban in the – in this context?MR MILLER: So the only reason I’m not commenting on it specifically is I’ve seen also the Chinese Government put out some statement that it has not changed their recognition of the Taliban, so I want to have actual clarity on what it is the Chinese Government did before I make any formal assessment.With that, we’ll wrap for the day. Thanks, everyone.QUESTION: So – hold on a second.MR MILLER: Yeah.QUESTION: I did manage to find it before (inaudible).MR MILLER: I said the briefing was over. You don’t get the right to declare it’s still going. (Laughter.)QUESTION: Well, I’m just going to quote from you from your own Human Rights Report: “There was a lack of government accountability, and abuses, including corruption and misconduct by security forces” and – that “often went unpunished” &#8212;MR MILLER: You better hurry before your service runs out – your battery.QUESTION: &#8212; “fostering a culture of impunity among perpetrators. Authorities seldom investigated or punished government officials for reported human rights abuses and acts of corruption.” So what you’re saying now is that this – you could see a situation in which this – the prosecution of the former prime minister is actually an improvement over what you found in the Human Rights Reports for Pakistan last year.MR MILLER: So certainly there are areas – there are areas for improvement that we would welcome in Pakistan, but that is not an assessment we have made with this specific case.QUESTION: Got it. Thank you.MR MILLER: Thanks.(The briefing was concluded at 2:12 p.m.)						Tags																					Afghanistan																								Angola																								Bangladesh																								Canada																								China																								Iran																								Iraq																								Israel																								Jordan																								Office of the Spokesperson																								Pakistan																								Palestinian Territories																								Venezuela
- Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Angolan Foreign Minister Téte António at a Joint Press Availability Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of StateAngolan Foreign Minister Téte AntónioLuanda, AngolaMinistry of External RelationsMODERATOR:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) His Excellency Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States of America; His Excellency Ambassador Téte António, Minister of External Relations of the Republic of Angola; distinguished members of both delegations; dear journalists – good afternoon, and welcome to the (inaudible) auditorium here at the headquarters of the Angolan diplomacy.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;At this auditorium we have the Angolan media resident and the U.S. correspondent who are eager to record and publish this essential visit.&nbsp; 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:&nbsp; (Inaudible.)&nbsp; Ah, there we go.&nbsp; Thank you.&nbsp; Thank you very much.&nbsp;We started our trip in Cabo Verde.&nbsp; We were then in Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and now here in Angola.&nbsp; 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&nbsp;Palancas Negras.&nbsp; (Laughter.)&nbsp; And we’ll see what happens, but they’re off to a very, very good start.&nbsp;Foreign Minister Téte, thank you so much for the warm welcome today.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; Our peoples are joined; our prosperity and success in the future is linked.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; And that’s clearly true here in Angola.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; Our relationship is stronger, it’s more consequential, it’s farther-reaching than at any point in our 30-year friendship.&nbsp; And at this transformational moment, President Biden asked me to come to Luanda to help build on and accelerate our progress.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; We’re doing that through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.&nbsp; This project has genuinely transformative potential for this nation, for this region, and – I would argue – for the world.&nbsp; It will spur investment in underdeveloped sectors like telecommunications and agriculture.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; I had a chance today to see some of the dramatic progress that’s already being made in building out this corridor.&nbsp; It is moving faster and further, I think, than we even might have imagined when we set out to do it.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; We’re investing in a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project, which will provide clean electricity to half a million homes.&nbsp; It’ll, in so doing, create thousands of local jobs and support the U.S. manufacture of solar equipment.&nbsp; We’re helping construct steel bridges that will link communities across the country.&nbsp; We’re supporting a project to connect people without traditional banking to mobile money applications.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; We can assure that African countries not only meet their own needs but can meet the needs of many others as well.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; VACS rethinks what, where, and how we produce food in the face especially of the climate crisis.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; But it also invests below ground, mapping, conserving, building healthy soils.&nbsp;Of course, we also discussed the challenges that we face in the region and beyond to security as well as to democracy.&nbsp; The United States very much appreciates President Lourenço’s continued efforts to de-escalate tensions between Rwanda and the DRC.&nbsp; We believe that the Luanda Process in tandem with the Nairobi Process is the best hope for enduring peace.&nbsp; Angola is trusted by all sides; President Lourenço’s leadership is vital for a breakthrough.&nbsp; Today, we had a chance to discuss that with the president, with the foreign minister, including meaningful steps that can be taken toward peace.&nbsp;And we discussed other challenges on the continent.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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, 361 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.&nbsp; These are a set of practical principles to guide the safe, peaceful, and sustainable exploration of space for the benefit of all humankind.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; We couldn’t be more pleased with that and grateful for it.So Mr. Foreign Minister, Téte, thank you for this very warm welcome.&nbsp; Thank you for the quality of our conversations and the work we’re doing together.&nbsp; It’s very good to be here.&nbsp; Thank you.FOREIGN MINISTER ANTÓNIO:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, Mr. Antony.&nbsp; You almost have said all the content of my speech, because you’ve said everything that we’ve been doing together as countries.&nbsp; But mainly, I have to thank you for having chosen Angola as a destination – one of the destinations during your trip to Africa.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; We have 15 legal instruments that we’ve signed with the U.S.&nbsp; We have established cooperation mechanisms that range from general policy to a memorandum on strategic partnership and goes down to sectoral dialogues.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; Within the framework of our economy diversification, agriculture has an outstanding role to play.&nbsp; And we have plans that we have adopted as a country, and these plans surely – such as&nbsp;Planagrão, which is the plan of cereals and the plan of livestock.&nbsp; These will also benefit from this strategic partnership.Secondly is the topic of knowledge transfer.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;You have mentioned other sectors such as health, telecommunications.&nbsp; We are making progresses with the U.S. Africell company, and energy also has been discussed.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; So that would lead us to materialize the ambition of having the two oceans – the Atlantic and the ocean connected.&nbsp;So this is a great potential that it represents, and we also appreciate our cooperation in regional issues.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; This is a great milestone.&nbsp; Of course, we have not achieved as much as we wanted to; we have achieved 75 percent.&nbsp; But that can constitute a basis for us to having the continent benefiting from this effort.&nbsp; Because indeed, everything that we do in trying to find peace in the region is done on behalf of the international community.&nbsp;So that’s all I had to say at this point in time.MODERATOR:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) Thank you, Excellencies.&nbsp; After concluding the addresses by the two entities, the coming moment is for questions and answers.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;QUESTION:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) Good afternoon.&nbsp; My name is Candido Calombe from the Angolan Public Television.&nbsp; My question is addressed to – to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.&nbsp; First, I’d like to know if there is plan and talks for President Biden to visit Angola.&nbsp; And the other question:&nbsp; Apart from the investment mentioned, is there another portfolio to support the country?Minister Téte António, I would like to know:&nbsp; With this strengthening of strategic partnership, will be Angola in a position to mobilize U.S. investors to come and invest in our country?&nbsp; Thank you.SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp; Thank you very much.&nbsp; I know because President Biden raises it so frequently that he would welcome an opportunity to come here.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; I’ve mentioned some of the areas where we’re working together and supporting each other.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;The efforts that President Lourenço is making, including combatting corruption, is also critical because it creates the best possible investment environment.&nbsp; Finally, I just want to emphasize something that Téte said because I think it’s so important.&nbsp; The assistance that the United States can provide, the investment we can generate, they’re usually important and we will continue to do that.&nbsp; But maybe even more important:&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; So we look forward to that as well.&nbsp; Thank you.&nbsp;FOREIGN MINISTER ANTÓNIO:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter)&nbsp; Thank you.&nbsp; Just to complement what Mr. Antony has just said with regard to invitation – invitation to President Biden has been extended.&nbsp; We know that the trip of a head of state relies on various factors, and we all know and understand what these factors are.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; And I believe this is our duty with Mr. Blinken.&nbsp; That is what he’s doing apart from other issues of common concern.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;Now, with regard to private sector, our belief is two.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;QUESTION:&nbsp;&nbsp;Thank you, Mr. Secretary.&nbsp; Thank you, Mr. Minister for having us.&nbsp; Mr. Secretary, could – Shaun Tandon with AFP.&nbsp; Mr. Secretary, could I follow up on a couple of things you mentioned in your opening remarks?&nbsp; You mentioned DRC and Rwanda, and Mr. Minister, you mentioned that as well – the efforts by the president.&nbsp; How hopeful are you that there could be more stability now?&nbsp; You’ve spoken with Presidents Kagame and Tshisekedi in recent weeks.&nbsp; Previous attempts to end the violence have not succeeded.&nbsp; How optimistic are you that this could succeed now?&nbsp;Could I also follow up – you mentioned democracy.&nbsp; Opposition groups have called for the holding of local elections here in Angola.&nbsp; Is that something that’s come up?&nbsp; To what extent did you discuss the situation here?&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; I know you’ve earlier said that it’s meritless.&nbsp; Does that judgement still stand?&nbsp; How does this in a long term affect relations with South Africa, that they brought it forward?&nbsp; Thanks very much.&nbsp;&nbsp;Obrigado.SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp;&nbsp;Thank you.&nbsp; Shaun, thank you very much.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; And that’s exactly what we talked to President Lourenço about today.&nbsp; I think in that effort Angola plays – and the president plays – an essential role, because President Lourenço is trusted by all sides.&nbsp; And that’s vital.&nbsp; That’s the most important currency that we have.&nbsp;And so we talked about concrete ways to have that process move forward.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; We’re going to continue our intense engagement in support of efforts that our African partners are making.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; And I think that’s essential.&nbsp;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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;But we also discussed the way forward, including in local elections and including continuing to expand the space for media.&nbsp; The president noted that he’s just about to open a second academy to train journalists – there’s already one here in Luanda – and we think that’s an important and positive trajectory.&nbsp;&nbsp;With the – with regard to the ICJ, look, I’m not going to get ahead of the opinion.&nbsp; You know our views on the on the case; those views stand.&nbsp; And of course, our relationship with South Africa is vitally important, and it is a very broad and deep relationship covering many, many issues.&nbsp; So whether or not we have a disagreement on one particular matter doesn’t take away from the important work that we’re doing together in so many other areas and that we’ll continue.FOREIGN MINISTER António:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) I don’t know if you are still waiting for an answer from my side after the answer given by Mr. Blinken.&nbsp; Just to say that the way towards peace is not a straightforward line.&nbsp; It’s not a straight line.&nbsp; This can find a lot of variation.&nbsp; If we were in mathematics, a graph, it is never straight.&nbsp; So as I said in my speech, we have been benefiting from U.S. activities towards the same actors.&nbsp; I believe those who were in Luanda yesterday and followed the news have learned that the president of the republic spoke with President Felix Tshisekedi and President Paul Kagame.&nbsp; That means the Luanda Process is still on and it is still engaged in the search for peace, mainly in the eastern DRC.Of course, all peace processes go through various stages.&nbsp; We know the history of that country.&nbsp; And our task is not only to continue working with the parties, but also a hope that regional efforts – I’m talking about Nairobi Process with which we’ve been coordinating – there has to be some harmonization.&nbsp; That’s why Luanda was the capital that hosted the Quadripartite Summit that aimed at harmonizing the initiatives.&nbsp; So I still believe that these efforts are still valid, and we’ll continue to do them in order to help the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is not only neighboring country, but also a strategic country for Africa, for the world at large, can find peace.QUESTION:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter)&nbsp; Good afternoon.&nbsp; I am Sany Funche from the Angolan national radio.&nbsp; I would like to address my question to the U.S. Secretary of State to know whether the U.S. supports the initiatives by African leaders needed to bring about a change in the UN Security Council, a reform that will allow Africans to have a more active voice.&nbsp;To the minister of external relations, I would like to know what understandings have been achieved after this visit by the U.S. Secretary of State? &nbsp;Thank you.&nbsp;SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp;&nbsp;Thank you very much.&nbsp; And the short answer to your question is: yes.&nbsp; You may have heard President Biden speak to this at the General Assembly in New York this past year.&nbsp; The United States supports reform in the Security Council.&nbsp; We want to make sure that the Security Council and, for that matter, other international institutions and organizations, reflect today’s realities, not just the realities that existed when those organizations were created, many – in some cases many, many decades ago.&nbsp; And so we believe the Security Council needs to be more representative and to include African voices.We’ve made some progress in that general direction this year, as you know, with American leadership.&nbsp; The African Union was integrated into the G20.&nbsp; But Security Council reform is critical, and the President’s spoken to it – but not only speaking to it, we’re going to try to work to act on it this year working with partners in Africa, and of course working with other members of the existing Security Council, to try to move forward on reform.FOREIGN MINISTER&nbsp;António:&nbsp;(Via interpreter) Thank you very much.&nbsp; Just to complement on the issue of the UN Security Council reform, that also was one of the issues discussed in the meeting with the president of the republic. &nbsp;We may recall that the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit had this as one of the most important topics in the speech by President Biden. &nbsp;So this is the attention that the U.S. had been attaching to the request by the African continent, mainly in the framework of the Ezulwini Consensus that has to do with Africa’s position towards the UN Security Council reform. &nbsp;Secondly, about the understandings, I believe that the main understanding is for us to continue working in those fields that have been mentioned already and continue to encourage and animate our relationship with the U.S. on those issues that we think that we have not yet made big progress such as – we were talking a while ago about how know-how transfer.&nbsp; We have signed various agreements, and the motto is the implementation of the main legal instruments that we’ve signed, including the strengthening of sectoral dialogues.&nbsp;With regard to other issues, namely issue – regional issues, as mentioned here by Mr. Blinken, I think we don’t need to get into details about the next steps to be taken regarding trying to find solution to the Democratic Republic of Congo conflict. &nbsp;But there is mutual will for us to continue collaborating on this regard.&nbsp; I believe we can limit ourselves to this understanding, this understanding can be translated into agreement or goodwill, and this goodwill does exist between us in those sectors that we have agreed upon already and those others that we’ll continue pressing on.QUESTION:&nbsp;&nbsp;Hi.&nbsp; Thanks very much to both of you for doing this. &nbsp;I’m Michael Birnbaum from&nbsp;The Washington Post. &nbsp;Mr. Secretary, I wanted to ask about this allegation from UNRWA that one of its compounds in Gaza was hit recently and at least 12 people were killed. &nbsp;And they’re saying that it was hit by tank rounds. &nbsp;What’s your assessment of whether Israel is responsible for it? &nbsp;And more broadly, over the last couple of days we’re seeing Israel demolish buildings along the border in Gaza, saying they’re doing that to establish a buffer zone. &nbsp;That’s something that you’ve pushed them not to do.&nbsp; How many times do you need to push the Israelis to protect civilians – are they living up to the commitments they’ve made to you – before they actually listen?And Minister António, I wanted to ask about your sense of – you’ve talked about deepening your partnership, orienting Angola more toward the United States through Lobito Corridor and these other projects you’re talking about today.&nbsp; What’s your sense of the United States as a partner versus China and Russia, who both clearly have deep relationships in Angola?&nbsp; And you mentioned last year, standing alongside Sergey Lavrov, that you wanted to avoid a third world war.&nbsp; How has the war in Ukraine affected your assessment of Russia as a partner?&nbsp;&nbsp;Brigado.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Thank you.SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp; So with regard to the reports of the incident at the UN facility, first, let me just emphasize again something that we have emphasized from day one, and that is the imperative of protecting civilians and protecting civilian infrastructure, as well as the humanitarian and UN infrastructure that is there in Gaza to help people who are in desperate need.&nbsp; And the work that the UN is performing in Gaza is quite literally lifesaving, and no one else can do it – no one else is doing it.&nbsp; And it only underscores the importance of making sure that its facilities – including facilities that it’s erected or is maintaining that are housing the many, many displaced Palestinians until they can go back to their homes and neighborhoods, is essential and it has to be protected.&nbsp; We’ve reaffirmed this with the Government of Israel, and it’s my understanding that they are, as is necessary and appropriate, looking into this incident.More broadly with regard to civilian infrastructure and with regard to the contours of Gaza itself, we’ve spoken very clearly about this and will continue to do so, both with the Government of Israel as well as in public.&nbsp; We do not support any diminution of the territory of Gaza.&nbsp; And similarly, it’s vitally important that all of the civilian infrastructure be protected as best possible – understanding that this is a war brought about by the horrific attacks by Hamas on October 7th, that Hamas continues to hide in and under civilian infrastructure.&nbsp; Nonetheless, there’s a responsibility on the part of Israel to do everything possible to protect that infrastructure, and certainly not to destroy it.&nbsp; So that’s, again, something that we have and will continue to take up with the government.And as I’ve said from the outset, from these now four months since October 7th, when we have important questions that we’re pursuing, important needs that we’re pursuing – when it comes to humanitarian assistance, when it comes to civilian protection, when it comes to any other aspect of this – it’s an ongoing conversation, an ongoing dialogue.&nbsp; And sometimes you don’t get results immediately, flipping a light switch.&nbsp; It’s a process; we’re at it every single day.&nbsp; And I believe the engagements that we’ve had, the interventions we’ve made, the work that we’ve done, has made a real difference over these past four months – both in terms of humanitarian assistance and civilian protection.&nbsp;Having said that, the suffering of civilians in Gaza – men, women, and children – remains heartbreaking, and it animates us to do everything we can to try to ensure the best we can that the right steps are being taken to protect civilians and to make sure that they’re getting the assistance that they need.&nbsp; Let me leave it at that.FOREIGN MINISTER António:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) Thank you very much for your question.&nbsp; With regard to the relationship with Russia, China, and the U.S., first of all I would like to say that Angola is a country that is open to the world.&nbsp; Maybe I should borrow a word by Mr. Blinken during a visit to West African countries.&nbsp; He said that in a country that needs so much that everybody has a space to cooperate with that country.&nbsp; I can’t recall which country was that, but Mr. Blinken is here, can testify to that.&nbsp; So this also applies to the Republic of Angola.&nbsp; And knowing our history, in terms of the development and transformation that we want to bring about in this country, but all partnerships that can fit into our needs and our policy in terms of our developmental policy are welcome.&nbsp;With regard to the fact to which extent the war between Russia and Ukraine affect our relationships, we know that the premises for establishing diplomatic relations are well known, (inaudible) – mutual respect, respect for sovereignty, and non-interference in internal affairs.&nbsp; These are the basic principles in the relation with Angola, the Republic of Congo, Angola with South Africa, Angola with Russia, or Angola with the United States of America.&nbsp; These are base principle of all diplomatic relations.&nbsp; And in these relationship, we can have also different standpoints in our relations.&nbsp;And we believe as Angola that the best friends are the one who tells the truth, and I believe I could stop here and say that the difference that might exist in our relationship with one or another are applicable to this old adage, saying that the best friend is the one who tells the true.&nbsp; Where we think that the principle that we’ve just mentioned – or the principles that I’ve mentioned – are not being upheld, and we had to warn our friends.&nbsp; So this is the way that I’m trying to summarize my response.&nbsp;With regard to the first question, this is an aspect that I’ve already mentioned.&nbsp; I had the privilege of borrowing Mr. Antony’s statement on the need of having partnership.&nbsp; And maybe we should think deeper.&nbsp; I think it’s wrong when our interpretation for partnership development falls into temptation of saying, “You must leave for me to get in.”&nbsp; That’s wrong, because in political terms, this could be misinterpreted.&nbsp; It looks like the partner that we’re going to have has to be under dominion of somebody else, whereas the world lives on complementarity, and this complementarity has various development levels.&nbsp;Let me just give an example.&nbsp; Maybe the structure of Angola’s foreign trade with the U.S. might not be the same as that of foreign trade between Angola with Japan, or U.S. with Japan – because the level of development is different.&nbsp; And in this difference, we will try to find solution for the needs for our development.&nbsp; So I think we need to think out of the box and not get stuck into those paradigms that are no longer valid in this world of complementarity.&nbsp; Thank you very much.SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp; Thank you, everyone.MODERATOR:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) Excellencies, thank you very much for your responses.&nbsp; The – journalists, we have come to the close of our press conference.&nbsp; Thank you very much for having come, and wish you a very good afternoon. A correction has been made to note that the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation consists of 36 Atlantic states. ↩︎						Tags																					Angola																								Bureau of African Affairs																								Office of the Spokesperson																																Secretary Trip
- Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Press Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of StateLuanda, AngolaLuanda Science CenterSECRETARY BLINKEN:  It’s a particular pleasure to be here in Angola’s brand-new science museum, to get a chance to see the museum.  I can just see the generations of young Angolans who will come here to be inspired, to have their eyes opened, maybe choose careers in science, and to add to the incredible storehouse of human knowledge.  It’s a wonderful facility, but it’s also, I think, symbolic of two areas of collaboration between the United States and Angola that I’m very excited about and that we’re really pursuing and digging into.One is the fact that Artemis is now the third – excuse me, Angola is now the third African country to join the Artemis Accords for the peaceful use of space.  And you can see the extraordinary potential, some of which is already happening through existing NASA collaborations but will only be strengthened by Angola as part of Artemis, in terms of addressing some of the most acute needs here in Angola, including mitigating droughts, including irrigating soil and crops, and working on the effective use and management of water.  So much can be done from space using geospatial data, and the collaboration that we will now have between the United States and Angola is only going to strengthen those efforts and that partnership.Second, and relatedly, I’m very pleased that Angola is joining as an early partner in our VACS initiative, Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils.  The power here is this:  As we’ve been dealing with the kind of food insecurity over the last few years and we’ve seen an almost perfect storm between climate change, COVID, conflicts like the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and the impact they’ve had on food security, one of the things that I’ve heard again and again, particularly in Africa, is that for all of the thanks that we get for the emergency assistance that we’ve been able to provide – either directly or through the United Nations, like the World Food Programme – what our partners are really for are investments in their own sustainable productive capacity.  And at the heart of that is making sure that they have the strongest possible system for producing food.  And one of the things that we’ve understood is that it really starts with two very basic things: the seeds and the soil.Here in Africa, and here in Angola, when we look at some of the traditional seeds that Africans have relied on – and here maybe it’s cassava, maybe it’s millet, maybe it’s sorghum, incredibly nutritious and that can now be made even more resistant to the ravages of climate change, to the cycles of droughts and floods and other abnormal weather events – when you have high-quality seeds and then you put them into high-quality soil, and we now have the ability to map soil anywhere in the world and understand where it’s strong and healthy, where it’s not and how to remediate that – you put those two things together and you have a much stronger, sustainable, resilient, and nutritious agricultural base.  And then we get to the point where Africa is feeding itself and, indeed, probably feeding other parts of the world.That’s the vision behind VACS, and that’s the partnership that we’re now building with Angola as one of our early partners in VACS.  So this seemed like a fitting place to emphasize that collaboration – both new heights in space, but also right here on Earth – and to demonstrate how these two things are connected.  So I’m excited to be able to be here at the museum to think about, again, generations of Angolans who will come here, have their eyes opened to science, to exploration, to using human ingenuity to solve problems.And finally, fundamentally, at the heart of all of our partnerships, including the partnership with Angola, is sharing and transferring knowledge.  Because, as important as assistance is, as important as investment is, it’s that transfer of knowledge – the sharing of knowledge, the sharing of understanding – that genuinely builds capacity in our partner countries and allows them to stand strongly on their own feet.Thanks very much.
- The United States and Angola: Partnering for Prosperity HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases&#8230;The United States and Angola: Partnering for Prosperity				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										The United States and Angola: Partnering for Prosperity																																		Fact Sheet																														January 24, 2024																																							Secretary Antony J. Blinken will visit Luanda, Angola,&nbsp;January 24-25,&nbsp;where he will meet with&nbsp;President&nbsp;João&nbsp;Lourenço and&nbsp;Foreign Minister Tete Antonio&nbsp;to discuss the U.S.-Angola bilateral relationship and commitments made during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on key areas such as climate, food security, global health cooperation, economic engagement, and trade.&nbsp; The Secretary will also discuss how to advance our partnerships based on shared values that promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, strengthen mutual security, and exemplify rule of law.U.S.-Angola RelationsSince the United States and Angola established diplomatic relations 30 years&nbsp;ago (1993), our bilateral relationship has deepened with regular senior-level engagements and increasing cooperation on key shared objectives.Angola is a strategic partner and regional leader, and the U.S.-Angola partnership is critical to advancing our shared goals for expanding economic prosperity and energy access, upholding democracy and human rights, and advancing regional security.Since the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022, the United States has engaged in frequent and substantive high-level engagements with Angola.&nbsp; Highlights in the past year include President Biden’s meeting with President&nbsp;Lourenço&nbsp;at the White House on November 30, and visits from U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd&nbsp;Austin&nbsp;and Deputy Assistant to the President Amos Hochstein.In November 2023, the U.S. and Angola signed the Artemis Accords, which advances a common vision of cooperation in space exploration for the benefit of all humankind.U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg welcomed Angola Minister of Transport D’Abreu to Washington, D.C in April 2023 to initial a bilateral Open Skies Agreement, facilitating increased air connectivity between the United States and Angola, providing significant new opportunities for trade, tourism, and investment.Economic, Trade, and Investment Ties&nbsp;&nbsp;The United States is developing strategic economic corridors to bring goods, services, and jobs to underserved populations and integrate them into the global economy.&nbsp; With investment from the United States Government and Western companies, the renewed Lobito Corridor will connect communities and create new opportunity across Southern Africa.&nbsp; The President’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) initiative is currently working with the Government of Angola and development partners to&nbsp;build modern infrastructure from the Atlantic Ocean through to Zambia.The U.S. Department of the Treasury has closely supported Angola’s efforts to reduce its debt vulnerabilities through technical assistance throughout 2023. &nbsp;The program has successfully enabled the Angolan government to reprofile its domestic debt and lower interest costs.USAID will provide approximately $1 million to assist the Angolan Ministry of Transportation to develop their planned Public-Private-Partnership Unit for transportation infrastructure.&nbsp; The support will enable the Ministry to replicate the successful and transparent Lobito Rail concession for additional rail and port investments.The U.S. Geological Survey Institute and the Angolan Geological Institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2023 that will enable further scientific collaboration between the two agencies to advance Angola’s potential as a critical minerals producer.Along with physical infrastructure, the United States is investing in Angola’s digital architecture, supporting reliable telecommunication networks — using trusted vendors — that will benefit the Angolan people and improve Angola’s digital connectivity to the global economy.Peace and SecurityThe U.S.-Angola partnership continues to grow, focusing on a wide range of security priorities, including International Military Education and Training, English language capacity building, maritime security, humanitarian demining, improving physical security and effective management of weapons stockpiles, and peacekeeping.&nbsp; In the coming year, the U.S. will explore new opportunities to expand capacity building efforts for cyber security and Angola’s Navy.The U.S. has significantly increased military assistance to Angola in the past four years, providing over $18 million from 2020-2023.Food Security&nbsp;The United States is working with Angola to increase food security and climate resilience through building capacity and expanding investment in support of Angola’s agriculture development and economic diversification.Angola has been identified as one of six countries for Phase I implementation of the Vision for Adaptive Crops and Soils (VACS).&nbsp;&nbsp;Through VACS, a part of Feed the Future, and working closely with the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), the United States and Angola are partnering to boost agricultural productivity and nutrition by developing diverse, climate-resilient crop varieties and building healthy, fertile soils.&nbsp; The U.S.-Angolan VACS partnership will accelerate plant breeding efforts on nutritious, indigenous African crop varieties and build climate-resilience by delivering improved crops.&nbsp; The partnership will also increase access to knowledge and information at the government, farm, and field levels, enabling informed decisions about what to grow, where to grow it, and which soil management practices to apply.USAID provided $13.3 million in 2022 and 2023 in emergency assistance to five southern Angolan provinces affected by the 2022 drought.&nbsp; The program screened over 500,000 children for acute malnutrition and treated 121,000 for moderate to severe malnutrition.Through a $5 million Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund project, USAID will support agricultural development along the Lobito Corridor, focusing on linking women smallholder farmers to value chains that will use the rail line as a critical component of sustainability of the corridor project.Health CooperationThe United States and Angola have a longstanding and productive partnership in health.&nbsp; U.S. support has included decades of investment to improve the day-to-day health of Angolans, particularly against malaria and HIV/AIDS.&nbsp;Over the past two decades, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest commitment by any nation to fight HIV/AIDS in history, has invested nearly $263 million in Angola, providing Angolans with HIV testing, prevention, care and treatment services, and strengthening public health systems.&nbsp; This includes providing more than 24,000 individuals with life-saving HIV treatment by the end of FY23.PEPFAR has strengthened public health and laboratory systems in Angola, providing technical assistance to the National HIV/AIDS Coordinating Office and the Ministry of Health in supply chain management, clinical treatment, capacity building, and community-based mobilization.In response to COVID-19, the United States, in partnership with COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), has donated more than 11 million safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to the people of Angola since July 2021.&nbsp; An additional 432,000 COVID-19 bivalent vaccines are tentatively scheduled for delivery to Angola during the week of February 5, as part of a bilateral donation executed from the U.S. Government.During the past year, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) distributed over 4 million bed nets to protect Angolans against malaria and trained over 8,000 health workers to diagnose and treat malaria.&nbsp; Through September 2023, Angola has witnessed a 15 percent decrease in deaths in PMI-focused provinces.USAID is providing $5 million from the Local Works program to partner with local universities to address road traffic injuries and deaths, the second leading cause of death behind malaria in Angola and a major burden on economic growth potential due to lost human capital and medical costs.Climate and Environment&nbsp;Despite being one of the largest oil and gas producers in sub-Saharan Africa, Angola has made ambitious environmental and conservation commitments with U.S. support, as it endeavors to generate 73 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2027.Angola joined the Global Methane Pledge in November 2023, a voluntary framework calling on nations to collectively reduce methane emissions by 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030.&nbsp; Reducing methane emissions into the atmosphere is the most effective strategy to limit warming in this decade.Since 1995, the United States has contributed over $129 million towards Angola’s demining efforts.&nbsp; Alongside U.S. support, Angola has invested $60 million of its own resources to demine national parks and to support conservation and eco-tourism development objectives in the Okavango River Basin.The State Department is funding efforts to counter wildlife trafficking through training of law enforcement, prosecutors, and park rangers.USAID is supporting biodiversity conservation, water resource management and sanitation services, conservation-based livelihoods, and lower-impact renewable energy solutions in the upper watershed of the Okavango River.NASA’s Applied Sciences program’s water resources focus area is supporting research on drought mitigation, crop irrigation schemes, water resource management, and reservoir management in Angola.Democracy, Governance, and Human RightsThe United States supports Angola’s efforts to combat corruption, enhance accountability and rule of law, and advance democratic governance, respect human rights, and fundamental freedoms, including the rights to freedoms of expression, press, association, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief.&nbsp; The United States continues to support Angola’s commitment to democratic reforms, including amplifying civil society and faith-based organizations’ roles in democratic free and fair elections and local decision making.&nbsp; The State Department has provided $7.8 million since 2021 in support of these goals.In addition, the State Department, through the Africa Regional Democracy Fund, also provides funding to promote press freedom in Angola through specialized training and advocacy programming.USAID and State Department are working with the National Bank of Angola to support Angola’s continued efforts to fight against corruption. The programming will increase public finance transparency and build the capacity of oversight institutions in support of Angola’s implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) standard.Since 2019, the Treasury Department has provided technical assistance to strengthen Angolan institutions’ ability to identify, detect, and prosecute money laundering, terrorist financing, and other crimes in support of Angola’s political and economic reforms.Partnership for Atlantic CooperationAngola is an active member and positive voice in the formation of the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, a White House priority which was launched on September 18, 2023.&nbsp; The Partnership is a platform for Atlantic coastal states to work together to address common challenges to realize interconnected goals of advancing a peaceful, stable, prosperous, open, safe, and cooperative Atlantic region and promote a healthy, sustainable, and resilient Atlantic resource for generations to come.&nbsp; It currently has 36 member states across the Atlantic.						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- Travel to Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Angola, January 21-26, 2024 HomeTravel to Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Angola, January 21-26, 2024				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Travel to Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Angola, January 21-26, 2024																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																	Close																																																	Tags																					Angola																								Cabo Verde																								Côte d&#039;Ivoire																								Nigeria																								The Secretary of State