WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden and his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco met at the White House on Thursday to discuss infrastructure and regional security as the United States seeks to counter China’s growing influence in Africa.

“America is completely focused on Africa,” Biden said during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office.

“Simply put, a partnership between Angola and America is more important and impactful,” he added.

China is making great strides with infrastructure, investment, credit and other measures to strengthen its presence on the continent.

Biden highlighted major U.S. investments in the major African infrastructure project called the Lobito Corridor, a railway that serves as a trade route connecting mineral-rich inland areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the Lobito seaport on Angola’s Atlantic coast.

“I’m excited to build the Lobito Economic Corridor,” Biden said, calling it “the largest U.S. rail investment in Africa ever.”

According to the White House, the US has poured $1 billion into the project this year.

Lourenco, in turn, thanked Biden for “being the first US president to change the cooperation paradigm between the US and the African continent.”

Biden had previously promised to visit Africa this year, but no plans have been announced with only a month left in 2023.

Asked about the apparent likelihood of a breach of the promise, a senior White House official said Thursday he had no presidential travel plans to announce.

The official said during a briefing with reporters that the meeting between the two leaders “concludes a truly historic year of engagement and partnership with Angola” as the United States celebrates 30 years of diplomatic relations.

One of the few concrete outcomes of the meeting is Angola’s signing of the so-called Artemis Accords – a multilateral framework launched by the United States to avoid conflicts in space exploration. Angola is the third African country to join the agreement.

Ahead of the meeting, the senior official said the two leaders should “review the progress we have made today and chart a course for how we will continue to deepen and expand this important partnership.”

Washington has also worked closely with Angola on regional issues such as the conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and a series of coups in West Africa, the official said.

“I know that both our governments are concerned about the number of coups in the region. So I suspect this will be a topic of discussion,” the official said ahead of the talks.

If Biden travels to Africa during his term, as he promised at a summit with 49 African leaders in December 2022, he would be the first U.S. president to visit the continent since 2015, when Barack Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia .