“Raw materials at stake are essential to our strategic industries not only for Europe’s needs but with local transformation and added value; therefore, the Lobito Corridor is a strategic investment for both Europe and our African partners,” stated Ursula von der Leyen.
In a speech in Brussels at the Global Gateway forum, the EU’s initiative launched four years ago to promote sustainable investments in developing countries, the head of the European Commission advocated for the construction of “resilient value chains with local infrastructure, but also local jobs, skills, and industries.”
“The Lobito Corridor, in Central Africa, is already an example of how this works in practice,” emphasized Ursula von der Leyen.
“This transport artery connects Angola’s Atlantic coast to the mineral-rich regions of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reducing the journey from the continent’s center to the port from 45 days to just one week and, by removing 5,000 heavy trucks from congested roads, will significantly reduce carbon emissions,” she outlined.
For the European Commission president, “the Lobito Corridor is much more than infrastructure.”
This is because it also “is mobilizing more than one billion euros, not only for railways and roads but also for agricultural value chains in Angola, the DRC, and Zambia to modern logistics centers bringing products to market, for vocational training, to ensure that the local population benefits from new jobs,” she added.
On Wednesday, the European Commission and the World Bank announced a strategic partnership to finance sustainable connectivity projects, including the Lobito Corridor in Angola, for which Brussels has already mobilized 500 million euros in grants.
This reinforces the strategic partnership between the European executive and the international financial institution providing loans to developing countries to spur connectivity projects.
According to the institution, 18 high-impact investments have been selected in three strategic sectors—energy, transport, and digital infrastructure—in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean, where the Lobito Corridor is cited, based on a list accessed by the Lusa agency.
This is one of the main initiatives for economic and logistical integration in Africa, linking the port of Lobito in Angola to the mining regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia through a strategic railway line.
This corridor aims to facilitate the flow of critical minerals, such as copper and cobalt, essential for the global energy transition, lowering transportation costs and times. Besides economic impact, it promotes local employment, sustainable infrastructure, and regional cooperation.
European sources consulted by Lusa explained that, so far, the EU’s Team Europe initiative has mobilized over 500 million euros in grants for several projects in the three countries of the Lobito Corridor, Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In her speech, Von der Leyen also mentioned, without specifying, the “modernization of strategic ports in Cape Verde.”
The Global Gateway is an initiative by the European Union launched in 2021 to strengthen global connections.
In these four years of implementation, the project has mobilized 306 billion euros, and the EU expects to reach 400 billion euros by 2027.
