Joe Biden arrived today in Luanda, the capital of Angola, on his first trip to the African continent as US president.

Biden’s two-day visit, fifty days before handing over power to his successor Donald Trump, confirms US ambitions in Africa, where China is making huge investments.

The outgoing US president will seek to promote a project to link Angola’s Lobito port by rail with mineral-rich neighboring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. Copper and cobalt are strategic raw materials for the manufacture of batteries and other electronics.

China’s increased influence in DR Congo has caused concern in Washington. In September, Beijing signed an agreement with the governments of Tanzania and Zambia to revive an older railway line to Africa’s east coast.

Speaking to reporters accompanying President Biden to Angola, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the “Lobito Corridor” will create enormous economic opportunities in Africa. He added that the US president will announce new commitments regarding the ambitious project of the rail connection, as well as in the areas of health, green energy and tackling climate change.

During his two-day stay in Angola, Biden will meet with his Angolan and Zambian counterparts, Joao Lourenço and Hakaide Hichilema, visit the port of Lobito and the museum dedicated to the slave trade during the colonial era.

Partly financed by US borrowing, the “Lobito Corridor” will facilitate exports of precious minerals to the US. “There is no Cold War on the African continent. We are not asking countries to choose between us, Russia and China,” Kerby clarified. “We are just looking for reliable, sustainable and verified investment opportunities that the people of Angola and the (African) continent can rely on, because many countries relied on unsafe investment opportunities and are now drowning in debt,” he added.

The Lobito rail link project is supported by multinational trading group Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil and rail operator Vecturis. The US Development Bank (DFC) has provided a $550 million loan to modernize the 1,300 km rail network from Lobito, Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo.