What You Need to Know:
Angolan President Joao Lourenço is set to visit China from the 14th-17th of this month following an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Deepening economic and business relations will be at the forefront of the meeting between the two heads of state, according to local sources.
Lourenço is also set to meet with a forum of Chinese businessmen during his visit.
Angolan interest in furthering Chinese business investment is high despite the African nations deep debt with China. According to the Hudson institute, Angolan debt to China currently sits at around 21 billion dollars, which is around 40 per cent of its public foreign debt stock.
Angola’s main exports to China in 2023 were Crude Petroleum, Petroleum Gas, Granite, Refined Copper, and Raw Aluminium, while China’s main exports to Angola for 2023 were rubber footwear, vehicles, vehicle parts and accessories, furniture, and motorcycles and bicycles.
The difference in exports highlights China’s strategy of infrastructure investment in Africa in return for resources. This increased investment in infrastructure often leaves African nations in debt, as seen in the case of Angola, which enables China to cut uneven deals in which it benefits much more than its counterpart.
In the Angolan case, huge sums of its GDP go towards paying off its foreign debt, leaving its healthcare and education systems underfunded.
According to figures from the Chinese Embassy in Angola, China has built around 20,000km of roads, 2,800km of railways, 100 schools, 50 hospitals and 100,000 housing units in the country. Additionally, Chinese companies built the recently inaugurated Luanda international airport and Chinese training programs have facilitated the training of Angolan doctors, agriculture professionals and security personnel.
So, What Now?:
The three-day meeting is to cover the future of relations between the two countries, but as figures highlight, Angola will be bargaining from the low-ground due to the high amount of debt it is in with the Asian nation.