President and CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Samaila Zubairu, the Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema, and Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor to President Biden recently convened the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Lobito Corridor Private Sector Investor Forum in Lusaka. According to a press release, this is the first PGI Investor Forum outside the United States, bringing together over 250 business and government leaders from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the European Union, the United States, and Zambia, as well as international investors and industry leaders to accelerate private sector investment in the Lobito Corridor, which will connect the DRC and Zambia with global markets through Angola.
The Lobito Corridor is the first strategic PGI economic corridor launched by President Biden at the G7 Summit in Japan in May 2023 under the flagship G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment initiative. The corridor will integrate the African continent and enhance connections with global markets by expanding export possibilities, boosting regional trade, and growing key market segments, all while creating decent jobs and improving lives. PGI’s efforts to upgrade and build new railway will result in the first trans-African rail line, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. A U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) $250 million investment, currently in due diligence, would support the Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) consortium that is upgrading and operating a 1,200 km Benguela rail line across Angola with advisory support from the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). The Investor Forum follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October 2023 in which the African Development Bank, the AFC, the governments of Angola, DRC, Zambia and the United States, and the European Commission underscored their shared commitment to developing the Lobito Corridor. The MOU named AFC as lead developer on the new ZambiaLobito rail line extending from the Benguela line into northwest Zambia.
In addition to rail, PGI is investing catalytic public funds alongside G7 and African partners in various sectors, demonstrating a new model of holistic private-sector led infrastructure development while maintaining strong labor and environmental standards, and promoting trade and investment on the African continent. AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for private sectorled infrastructure investment across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development, and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth. Sixteen years on, AFC has 42 member countries and has invested $13 billion across Africa since inception.
