Biden to Visit Angola, Germany in First Trip Since Exiting Election

President Joe Biden plans to visit Africa in October — with a stop beforehand in Germany — fulfilling a promise to visit the continent before he leaves office and signaling its importance to Washington.

Biden will hold meetings in Germany on Oct. 11-12 before traveling to Angola, according to people familiar with his plans, who requested anonymity to share details on his schedule. It will be his first trip abroad since withdrawing from the presidential race in July and endorsing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

The stops highlight two of the outgoing president’s priorities — maintaining and strengthening ties with allies in Europe and expanding US economic and security links with Africa. 

The US president has developed an especially close relationship with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the two men kept together an alliance to support Ukraine in its fight over the last two and a half years to repel Russia’s war machine.

While in Berlin, Biden could also visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, though details of the trip are still being worked out, according to the people familiar. The Biden administration has been vocal in combating a surge in antisemitism at home and abroad.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council declined to comment.

Africa Ties

Biden has sought to deepen the US commitment to Africa to help counter growing Chinese and Russian influence, and had pledged to visit the continent while in office. The trip affords him an opportunity to allay African leaders’ concerns that the continent is taking a back seat to other geopolitical priorities.

The US president hosted his Angolan counterpart, João Lourenço, last November at the White House.

“America is all in on Africa,” Biden said during their meeting.

In 2022, he hosted the African Leaders Summit in Washington and in May of this year hosted a state dinner for Kenyan President William Ruto. 

Earlier: Biden’s Unfilled Vow to Visit Africa Renews Fears of Neglect

Harris, who is seeking to become the first Black woman president in US history, visited Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia in March 2023 and First Lady Jill Biden has traveled to Namibia and Kenya.

Key Ally

Scholz has visited the White House multiple times over the past four years and the two men have seen each other on the sidelines of annual gatherings like the Group of Seven, NATO, and UN General Assembly meetings.

The German chancellor played a major role in a highly complex negotiation that resulted in the largest prisoner exchange with Russia since the Cold War, helping secure the release of 16 prisoners, including Germans, Americans and people of other nationalities.

Key to the deal was Scholz agreeing to release Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the killing of a Chechen separatist. German authorities had long resisted including him in any exchange because of the brazen nature of his crime, but Russian President Vladimir Putin made his release a top priority.

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