Africa-Press – Angola. The Angolan government signed on Thursday, in Washington DC, NASA’s Artemis Accords, which establish a series of rules for lunar exploration, the White House announced.
The Artemis Accords, led by NASA, outline a shared vision of principles based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to create a safe and transparent environment.
These are agreements that promote a common vision of space exploration “for the benefit of all humanity”, in which the US and its Artemis partners set the goal of exploring the Moon and, subsequently, traveling to Mars.
The Artemis Program was developed to implement a long-standing commitment to safe and sustainable activities.
The first African countries to join the agreements, a multilateral framework established at the initiative of the USA, with the participation of many other states, were Nigeria and Rwanda, in December 2022.
According to the statement, in connection with the working visit of the Angolan President, João Lourenço, to the White House, in addition to adhering to the Artemis Agreements, Angola also joined the “Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation”.
According to the US government statement, the “leaders committed to increasing partnership on issues that define the shared future” of both countries, including “strengthening democracy, energy production and exports, and cooperation space”.
The two Heads of State also welcomed the launch of a US-Angola Energy Security Dialogue in 2024, focusing on secure and stable energy supplies and deeper trade ties, while also addressing shared climate goals.
President Joe Biden met with President João Lourenço at the White House to discuss opportunities to deepen their relationship, identify areas of future cooperation and discuss regional and global challenges.
According to the White House, together, they discussed significant US economic investment in Angola, namely through President Biden’s emblematic Partnership for Infrastructure and Global Investment (PGI) in the Lobito Corridor, with more than USD billion in US funding committed only this year.
These investments include supporting more than 180 rural bridges, modernizing 4G and 5G digital connectivity across the country, introducing the first mobile money app, and delivering 500 megawatts of solar power to the grid, with an additional billion mobilized for the largest railway investment in the world.
These investments will also contribute to Angola’s objective of becoming a net food exporter by 2027 and strengthening regional food security, the statement highlights.
President Biden and President Lourenço committed to increasing partnership on issues that define our shared future, including strengthening democracy, energy production and export and space cooperation, the document highlights.
It adds that, to that end, leaders welcomed the launch of a US-Angola Energy Security Dialogue in 2024, focused on secure, stable energy supplies and deeper trade ties, while advancing our shared climate goals.
Regarding the meeting, President Biden congratulated his counterpart João Lourenço on signing the Artemis Accords, which “promotes a common vision of space exploration for the benefit of all humanity, and for joining the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation”.
On his Instagram account, Joe Biden also expressed himself “proud” to have received President João Lourenço in an audience at the White House, a meeting considered historic, which could boost Angola’s development.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
