Speeches and Remarks

Doha, Qatar

Good morning.

Your Highness: It is an honor to be here with you. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity and warm welcome you and the people of Qatar have shown me on my visit. On behalf of my husband, President Biden, thank you for your leadership as Qatar continues to play a vital role in this region—and the world.

And I’m glad to be with so many heads of state and leaders from across the globe here in Doha.

Yesterday, I visited the Qatar Foundation, which has a magnificent view of Education City. Looking out at all of those world-renowned learning institutions, I thought of the incredible minds, cultures, and ideas coming together.

I appreciate Her Highness Sheikha Moza’s leadership in an area we both deeply care about: education.

As First Lady, I continue to teach writing at a community college, and in my classes, we talk about how stories shape our world.

The stories we tell can divide us. They can isolate us, and make us fearful.

But stories can also help us feel more connected to one another and inspire us to join hands in creating a better future.

That’s the story unfolding on the campus of Weill Cornell Medicine here in Qatar.

Innovation through cooperation.

Yesterday, I met a medical student who is studying why the risk of ovarian cancer goes up with a particular gene mutation. Another student is designing a surgical device that can clean the lens of a camera during an operation—without removing it from the patient’s body. That will make surgeries more precise.

It’s promising work.

But what fills me with even more hope is meeting the people who are powering those discoveries.

Students from Qatar—and countries from all around the world—at an American academic institution, located here in Doha, uncovering health breakthroughs that have the potential to improve people’s lives in this region and globally.

This year’s Doha Forum is focused on the “innovation imperative.”

I believe the first imperative for innovation is cooperation—people of all backgrounds and expertise working side by side, creating something better than we ever could alone.

As First Lady of the United States, I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world. From Japan to Ecuador. From Namibia to Ukraine.

Everywhere I go, I’m reminded that our differences are precious—and our similarities infinite.

Still, on those trips, there have been some who ask me why: Why visit a drought in Africa? Why meet with Wounded Warriors in the United Kingdom? Why visit refugees in Romania?

But if we were reminded of anything, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is this: diseases do not recognize borders. Neither does hunger, poverty, or violence.

We are all connected.

Even when times are tough, we share a responsibility to come together. And whether it’s fighting disease or working for peace in this region, we must bridge divides so that all people may live with dignity and security.

President Biden—my husband, Joe—understands that there isn’t one leader, one government, or one country that can go it alone, not in a world as inter-woven as ours.

The world’s challenges aren’t only ours to endure together. They are ours to solve together.

That can be this generation’s story, one of cooperation, understanding, and opportunity.

Consider climate change. The consequences of extreme heat, droughts, melting glaciers, and typhoons reverberate around the world.

But so too could new technologies with the power to reduce carbon emissions, address water scarcity, and make communities more resilient.

It will take all of us—committing to change, sharing our best ideas, and creating innovations that reach everyone—just as fast and as far as any wildfire or ocean wave.

Another area that’s ready for more innovation is in women’s health research.

Globally, women tend to live longer than men, but we spend almost 25 percent more time in poor health. 

Innovations are happening all around the world to close that health gap. Imagine a blood test—the first of its kind—that can reduce the time it takes for women to get a diagnosis for a debilitating disease like endometriosis. Or think about the benefits of uncovering why Alzheimer’s is more common in women.

This work isn’t just up to scientists and researchers. Governments, academia, the private sector, and NGOs all have to coordinate to make sure the benefits of innovative research reach the people who need them. 

Your Highness: I am here in Doha as part of my final foreign trip as the First Lady of the United States.

In the coming months and years, I will continue to help close the gaps in women’s health research. And the leaders in this room will always have a partner in me to move forward life-saving and world-changing innovations that improve our world.

The imperative to join together is not our burden.

It is our opportunity.

So let us build strong partnerships and innovate our way to better health, opportunity, and prosperity—for all.

A brighter world can be our story to tell.

Let’s write it, together.

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East Room

6:48 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Please sit down.

I want to get through this real quick.  I’m anxious to see the show.  (Laughter.) 

Secretary Del Toro, Secretary Kendall, Deputy Secretary Bradsher, I — I tell you, you — we’ve got a lot of important people here tonight — and most importantly, to our veterans and their families — and their family and caregivers and survivors, you know, it — I mean this sincerely — it’s truly an honor to be here with all of you on the eve of such a solemn anniversary. 

The attack on Pearl Harbor — as a kid growing up, I heard so much about it, and it changed literally the future of the world and our nation and our own family.  And like so many other brave women and men in our country, shortly after the attack, my mother, who is the number three of — had f- — four — she had four brothers, and they all went down literally the next day, on Monday, and joined the United States military. 

One of them — one of my uncles was an aviator who was killed in the war, and another one was denied because he had a serious health problem.  They wouldn’t take him. 

My uncle Ambrose Finnegan, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and a few dozen missions across the Pacific.  And in 1944, during one of those missions, his plane crashed off the coast of Papua New Guinea. 

General MacArthur, who commanded the U.S. Forces in the Southwest Pacific at the time, sent my family a condolence letter honoring my uncle’s sacrifice.  And the general wrote, “He died… serving in a crusade — a crusade from which a better world will all come.”  And I think a better world did come, but because of the sacrifice of so many.

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s — that’s why we’re here tonight: to remember the souls we lost 83 years ago, to honor the brave Americans of the “Greatest Generation” who stepped up to serve every single day that followed, and to recommit to building a better world from which — for which they fought and many of them died, as you know.

How many of you lost someone, one of your family, in World War II?  I know you may —

As my mother would say, God love you. 

As so many of you know, earlier this year, I visited Normandy to honor the 80th anniversary of D-Day and urge people everywhere to make this same commitment that was made then.  I walked along the beaches where the Americans and our Allies turned the tide of that war.  I stood on top the cliff where three hu- — 225 Rangers risked everything to breach the Hi- — the breach Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.  And I prayed at the crosses of men who gave everything to literally save the world.  It wasn’t hyperbole — to save the world.  And I spoke with some of the last surviving veterans from that fateful June day. 

But there’s another moment in particular — another moment in particular that stayed with me.  When I was standing with other European leaders at the cemetery, I saw those veterans — a 99-year-old man who had met President Zelenskyy, because other world leaders were at that function as well.  The veteran told President Zelenskyy, and this is what he said.  He sa- — I remember hearing exactly what he said.  He said, “You are the savior of the people,” end of quote.  Then President Zelenskyy shook this veteran’s hand and said, “No, no, no.  You saved Europe.  You saved Europe.”

It was a reminder that every generation — every generation must defeat democracy’s mortal foes.  Every generation must stand up to the forces of darkness and the forces of division.  And every generation must honor the servicemen and women who dare all and risk all to ensure that freedom endures. 

You know, that’s our charge.  I mean, that’s literally our charge. 

As a nation, we have many obligations.  I got in trouble early on as a young senator when I was 31 years old.  I said we have many obligations, but we only have tr- — one truly sacred obligation.  That’s to prepare those we send into harm’s way and care for them and their families when they return home and when they don’t return home.  It’s an obligation not based on party or based on politics.  It’s an obligation — a promise that unites us all. 

And over the last four years, I’ve worked to make good on that promise every single day.  We brought veterans homelessness and veterans unemployment down to historic lows.  We invested record resources to reduce the scourge of veteran suicide — more people dying of suicide than any other cause in the military.  We delivered more benefits to more veterans than ever before wi- — in all of VA history.  And we all — we all ens- — we ensured all World War II veterans were eligible for VA healthcare.  And we passed more than 35 — 35 bipartisan laws to support veterans and their families. 

That includes the PACT Act, the most significant law our nation — in our l- — nation’s history to help millions of veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits during their military service.  Not only did it for that generation but for all s- — sub- — all subsequent generations, including all those in my generation exposed to Agent Orange and my son’s generation exposed to toxic fumes coming from those burn pits.  And it matters. 

Let me close with this.  You know, like our ferbear- — forebearers during World War II, we stood at an inflection point.  We still stand at an inflection point where decisions we make now and make in the next four or five years will determine the course of our future for literally decades to come.  It’s not hyperbole — for decades to come. 

And like our forebearers, we owe it to the next generation to set that course on a more free, more secure, and more just path — to do that hard work General MacArthur said those years ago “from which a better world for all will come.”

I want to thank everyone in this room — and I mean it from the bottom of my heart — who dedicated their lives to this nation and to all those who serve today to continue the work of protecting our nation, of defending our democracy, of ensuring that government of, by, and for the people long endures. 

I understand we have a — a veteran here — I don’t see him; I wanted to say hello to him before he leaves — who is 101 years old.  Where is he?  (Applause.)

(The president leaves the stage for a conversation with a veteran.)  (Applause.)   

Okay.  Sorry to hold it up.  (Applause.)

Again, thank you all very, very much.  (Applause.)

6:56 P.M. EST

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The Ellipse
Washington, D.C.

6:14 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Merry Christmas, everyone!  (Applause.)  Merry Christmas.  

This Christmas tree lighting is one of my wife Jill’s favorite events, so she truly regrets not being here tonight.  She’s on an international trip in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Sicily to — in order to promote women’s health research.  (Applause.)  She sends her best wishes to all of you.

And on behalf of Kamala and Doug — where are you, Kamala and Doug?  You — (applause) — there you go.  Welcome to the — on behalf of them, welcome to the National Christmas Tree lighting.

Thank you, Mickey, all the artists who are performing tonight. 

A special thanks to the Jones family for their service and sacrifice and our military families.  (Applause.)  Tonight, they’ll help light this beautiful Christmas tree. 

Mickey, will you start the countdown?

MS. GUYTON:  All right, y’all.  Let’s count down together, people. 

AUDIENCE:  Five, four, three, two, one!

(The Jones family light the National Christmas Tree.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Whoa!  (Applause.) 

MS. GUYTON:  Merry Christmas!

(A choir sings “Joy to the World.”)

THE PRESIDENT:  Folks, as we gather here in President’s Park just outside the White House, a special thanks to the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation.  (Applause.)  I mean it. 

This 30-foot Red Spruce represents the spirit embodied in this year’s White House holiday theme, which Jill unveiled earlier this week.  The theme is “A Season of Peace and Light” — of peace and light — the peace we feel as we pause and reflect on our blessing and the light — the light we see as we gather with loved ones that cherish our time together. 

During this season of reflection and renewal, many of us will sing “O Holy Night.”  A phrase in the song is, “His law is love; His gospel is peace.”  May [My] wish for you and for the nation, now and always, is we continue to seek the light of liberty and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency. 

Merry Christmas, America.  Merry Christmas to all of you.  And may God bless you all.  (Applause.)  And may God protect — may God protect our troops.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)

6:19 P.M. EST

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Capital Hilton
Washington, D.C.

2:09 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.  (Applause.) 

I was — I knew you all were in town.  I couldn’t let it go without coming by to say hello and to say thank you to everyone here, all of these extraordinary leaders.  (Applause.)

I wanted to come by and say happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah — whatever you may celebrate.  But most important, let’s make sure we celebrate each other.  (Applause.)  Let’s make sure we — please have a seat.  I’m going to j- — be just a minute.  I am not here to give a long speech.  I’m here to give greetings.

But here’s what I want to say.  This is the season for us to be thankful, to celebrate our blessings, and to reinvigorate ourselves about the blessings we have yet to create for each other and the people we represent.  And you all are the leaders on the ground who are doing the work that is about lifting people up. 

You all have heard me say so many times: I do believe the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down; it is based on who you lift up.  (Applause.)  And that is the work that each of you does every day. 

Your work benefits people that, for the most part, may never know your name or mine, people you may never meet.  Yours is the work that is a response to a calling to serve; a calling to sacrifice; to work long hours, to work long days to meet the needs of the people. 

Yours is the work that is also the calling that our country makes that asks of each of us to believe in the promise of America and then do everything we can to help our nation realize that promise on behalf of everyone, no matter who they are, where they live, what they look like.

And so, I wanted to stop by to say thank you for all the support you have given me but, most importantly, for your willingness to answer the call to serve in the way you do. 

It’s going to be an important year next year.  And I know that’s part of what the conference has been about, to think about how we are going to use the limited resources we have to serve the greatest number of people and to lift folks up. 

And so, I am here also to thank you in advance for that pledge that you have made and continue to make.  Our work is so important.  And as we reflect on this past year, let us remember we had impact in every way, and we have taken on the work of building community and coalitions.  That’s what we do and do so well.  And, in particular, that’s what members of this organization do, so let’s stay committed to that. 

But you all are the soldiers on the ground and in the field.  And I know that everyone is here together in fellowship to rededicate ourselves to the work yet to be done and to do it knowing, yes, it will be hard work, but hard work is good work.  Hard work is joyful work. 

And we are up — we are up for the moment to see it through and get it done.  And, yes, we will do it with joy in our hearts and with our commitment to the fight that is about lifting up all people, recognizing everyone’s right to opportunity, to dignity, to freedom.

And so, I wanted to just stop by to say thank you for all of that.  And please enjoy the holidays. 

Take care, everybody.  (Applause.)

                         END                     2:13 P.M. EST

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As Prepared for Delivery at the Novogradac Housing Finance Conference

We are at a critically important moment for housing policy.

Housing is less affordable for Americans now than at any point in recent memory. Approximately half of renters are cost-burdened and a quarter are severely cost-burdened, meaning they must devote over half of their income to rent. Renters report that homeownership – long seen as the main source of wealth building for the middle-class – feels unattainable.

Much has been made of why various measures of economic sentiment remain at low or moderate levels in light of a macroeconomy that has performed so well – with robust growth, low unemployment, and an inflation rate that is nearly back to normal. I suspect that the housing situation facing middle- and low-income households is likely one of the more significant reasons.

How did we get here? The combination of a missing decade of apartment construction and homebuilding after the Global Financial Crisis and a historic shift in housing demand after COVID led to a substantial mismatch between supply and demand that triggered unsustainable growth in rents and home prices. And bringing the housing market into better balance would still be insufficient for households earning the lowest incomes, as these households don’t earn enough income to afford market rents.

As we near the end of this presidential term, I’d like to focus today on the groundwork President Biden and Vice President Harris have laid to address housing affordability by increasing the supply of housing. Two and a half years ago, our Administration launched the Housing Supply Action Plan, an all-of-government effort to build and preserve more housing.

Today, I will discuss our work as part of that plan to break down barriers to housing, increase the flow of public and private capital into housing that is affordable, and promote innovation to lower costs. And I’ll highlight what I see as the opportunities ahead for state and local governments and the private sector to build on this work – even as it remains critical that Congress meet the moment to encourage more housing production and preservation.

Breaking Down Barriers to Housing

Land use, zoning, and permitting barriers have long constrained housing supply. Since the 1980s, housing prices have grown sixfold, while construction costs have quadrupled. Restrictive regulations at the state and local level have contributed to this dynamic and divergence.

That’s why the Administration’s plan began with federal action to incentivize state and local governments to reduce barriers to housing construction. Our Administration launched a first-of-its-kind grant program, which supports state and local governments in removing obstacles to affordable housing development, including awarding grants to 21 communities across the country that are taking steps like updating land use policies to increase density and by-right permitting, streamlining regulations, and increasing staffing to enable faster approvals. In addition, we incorporated zoning and land use reforms as selection criteria in more than $20 billion in competitive federal funds, including transportation dollars —meaning, if you have pro-housing policies in place, you are more likely to receive highly-sought after federal grant dollars.

The federal government also has an important role to play in reviewing its regulations and policies in a manner that promotes public health and safety, while seeking to make it easier to build and preserve housing. For example, our Administration waived certain environmental review requirements when commercial structures are being converted into housing.

Looking ahead, this moment calls for much more than just rhetoric of deregulation. We need to build a real coalition across the private sector, state and local leaders, and members of both parties in Washington that asks what more we can do through our policies, investments, and partnerships, to reward and encourage zoning, land use, and permitting reforms that make it easier, faster, and cheaper to build.

Increasing the Flow of Public and Private Capital into Housing that is Affordable

The second key area of focus in our Housing Supply Action Plan was mobilizing more public and private capital into building and preserving housing that is affordable for working families. This is an area where Congressional action is critical, as subsidy dollars are often needed to build and operate housing that is affordable for low-income households.

At the same time, part of making the case to Congress and to the private sector that more capital is needed is demonstrating that existing federal dollars can be used effectively, including to crowd in private investment. Since launching the plan, we finalized regulations to make it easier to use the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit for building mixed-income housing; indefinitely extended and expanded the Federal Financing Bank Risk Share program to channel more capital into projects and increase certainty for new construction; made it easier to layer funds from the American Rescue Plan, which represented the largest one-time housing block grant in U.S. history, with other sources of federal financing; and unlocked billions of dollars in low-cost lending authority at the Department of Transportation to finance housing near transit—a program that will close a deal on its first housing project in the coming days.

Another way governments can help increase the flow of private capital into housing that is affordable is by making under-utilized public land or buildings available for housing. For example, right here in Clark County, Nevada, our Administration recently announced the sale of 20 acres of public land for just $100 per acre that will be transformed into homes for working and middle-class families. And the United States Postal Service, which owns 8,500 facilities nationwide, is soon to announce a first-of-its-kind sale of surplus land to be repurposed as affordable housing – building on steps that the U.S. Forest Service has already taken to enable workforce housing in high-cost areas in the Mountain West.

Looking ahead, in addition to pressing for Congressional action, we must also consider what more the private sector can do in light of increasing housing needs across the income spectrum and significant preservation demands, with the aging of the housing stock and the upcoming expiration of affordability covenants for hundreds of thousands of homes. There is a growing recognition that building and preserving more housing is not just a social necessity—it is also an economic opportunity that, if structured properly, can improve outcomes like long-term affordability and housing quality, and earn attractive risk-adjusted returns.

I believe this recognition presents a critically important opportunity that shares some similarities with the push to mobilize private capital into the energy transition that began more than a decade ago. For example, if the private market, in partnership with state and local governments, can demonstrate how to operate quality, affordable workforce housing at scale, it could bring much-needed capital into meeting the housing needs of working families, begin to address housing challenges in high-opportunity areas, incentivize better policy and innovation, and provide policymakers with insights on how to improve existing housing subsidy programs.

Promoting Innovation to Lower Costs

A final area of focus in the Housing Supply Action Plan was action to encourage housing innovation and improve construction productivity in order to lower costs. This goal, while more long-term than the others I’ve discussed, has the potential to benefit renters and homebuyers, builders, developers, and manufacturers alike.

One key step our Administration has taken to encourage this kind of innovation is enabling more housing types – including duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes – to be built under the HUD Code, a single code that enables offsite manufacturers to benefit from economies of scale because it does not require them to follow different codes in different states. Another example is the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, a grant competition that funded an R&D investment in mass timber for affordable housing, which aims to promote the use of scalable building materials.

Looking ahead, more can and should be done to create the conditions for innovation and productivity growth in multifamily construction in particular. This is an area where the private sector can contribute substantially, with dozens of firms now beginning to experiment with technologies like modular building, robotics, advanced manufacturing, and 3D printing. Efforts to mobilize more private capital into affordable and workforce housing should aim to leverage these technologies in a manner that enables each dollar to go further and faster.

Conclusion

There is no question that the housing challenges facing families across the country are immense. And, while bipartisan consensus is building on this issue, Congressional action is sorely needed. But I remain optimistic about what we can do together in the years ahead to tackle the challenge of housing affordability by building and preserving more housing.

This does not mean housing supply solutions alone are sufficient. We must also support the lowest-income households and promote fairness and competition – from prohibiting egregious rent increases when federal dollars are used to ensuring that algorithmic price fixing does not diminish the incentive for housing providers to compete on price and quality.

But we can’t begin to address the housing challenges facing workers, families, and communities, without a dedicated effort to build and preserve more housing at a scale we haven’t seen in decades. And I remain optimistic that the coming years can bring such an effort.

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Carrinho Food Processing Factory
Benguela, Angola

2:01 P.M. WAT

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Amos Hochstein. I’m a senior adviser to President Biden. It’s an honor to be here with all of you.

I want to open first by saying thank you to Nelson Carrinho and the staff of this facility for opening it up for this event and providing the tour and the facilities for this discussion this afternoon.

Without further ado, I’d like to introduce our host and our leading partner, President Lourenço.

Mr. President.

PRESIDENT LOURENÇO: (As interpreted.) Your excellency, Joe Biden, president of United States of America; your excellency, Félix Tshisekedi, president of the Republic — Democratic Republic of Congo; your excellency, Hakainde Hichilema, of the Republic of Zambia; your excellency, Philip Mpango, vice president of the United Republic of Tanzania; distinguished members of the U.S. Congress; distinguished members of the delegations.

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to greet you with great satisfaction for hosting you at the city of Benguela, on which the attention of all Angolans is focused that are happy with the presence of your excellencies in our country and recognize the importance of this summit for integral development of our continent, the interconnection of this project to the rest of the world.

I’d like to thank President Joe Biden, President Tshisekedi, President Hakainde Hichilema, and President Mpango for having attended this event that will be a historical milestone of international trade and logistic chains.

Angola lives in the situation of peace and stability and is committed to keeping up its commitment with international partners, both at institutional level and with investors that have chosen our country as destiny for their businesses.

It’s important to mention the strategic importance of Lobito Corridor, with Lobito port and the Benguela railway, in the 1970s was one of most profitable rails worldwide by transporting 3.3 millions of tons of cargo per year. We are expecting to optimize this important infrastructure as integral part of an international and transcontinental route that is able to connect the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and, therefore, connect safely the European, African, Asian continents with gains in terms of transportation and cost of maritime and rail freight.

Lobito Corridor has strategic importance given the contribution that it will give to dynamizing intra-African trade within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area, as well as the global trade in general.

Excellencies, with the presence of the highest level from our partners of DRC and Zambia, we signed, in June 2023, contract of concession of Lobito Corridor to a private consortium made up by recognized companies.

I would like to highlight the holding of U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022 — in December 2023 in Washington, D.C., whereby Biden administration showed its commitment in the construction of infrastructure in Africa that has been implemented through Lobito Corridor, through the joint declaration U.S.-EU that was made public in the margin on the event on Global Partnership and Infrastructure during the G20 Summit held in India in 2023.

This will be a lynchpin for the economic development that will provide the participation of small and medium enterprise in the business value chain, mainly in agriculture, industry, and mining, in order to increase trade and economic growth of SADC region and the eastern African region, a way that the political commitment of all engaged people in materialization of this big project is a milestone.

It’s important that the African countries involved, the consortium, and the sponsors should promote activities needed in order to materialize this important project that will positively impact the maritime and rail transport in international trade, as well energy transition and safety — food safety and, in general, in the global economy.

Thank you for your attention and wish you fruitful deliberations.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President. It’s now my honor to introduce President Biden, who set the vision for this corridor during the Africa Leaders Summit and implementing it ever since.

Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you very much.

Mr. President, thank you very much for your hospitality.

Fellow leaders and friends, I can’t think of a better way to end my trip to Angola than coming here to the Lobito Corridor.

And I want to thank all of you — all of you for being here today, including the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Zambia; Tanzania; and our partner, the CEO of the American Finance Corporation.

It’s great to — to be here with all of you. And I mean that sincerely. I think we’re at one of those transition points in world history where what we do in the next several years is going to affect what the next six, seven, eight decades looks like, and I think this is one of those milestones.

Our partner, the CEO of the Fi- — American Finance Corporation, is going to take care of everything for us. No- — nothing to worry about. But all kidding aside, it’s great to be with you all.

When I launched this project with our G7 partners last year, I said our goal was to build a better future. And, folks, the future is here. It’s now. The future is here.

The fact is I wish everyone could see what I saw today: tracks that will form America’s fir- — or Africa’s first intercontinental railroad — transcontinental railroad; a railcar that will cut travel from days to hours; and the — grain silos that are going to help transform the region from a food importers to food exporters; businesses that are investing across the corridor in 5G, solar panels, steel bridges made near my hometown back in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

And I want to be clear about something. All these projects’ investments are designed to have high impact and meet the highest standards for workers, for the environment, and for their communities, because the United States understands how we invest in Africa is just as important as how much we invest in Africa.

That’s what the PGI is part of, which is — I started a program early on — calling it Build Back Better, but we’ve changed it to PGI. And that’s why, today, I’m proud to announce the United States will invest nearly $600 million in additional investment to expand agriculture infrastructure, to build high-speed mobile networks, and to continue upgrading the Lobito Atlantic Railway.

A few months ago, the DRC sent the first copper shipment on this railway for transit onward to the United States. The trip used to take 45 days to get to the United States from that. But now it takes 45 — less than 45 hours — 45 hours because of the changes you made. It’s a game changer.

Imagine how transformative this will be for technology, clean energy, for farming, for food security as a whole. It’s faster, it’s cleaner, it’s cheaper, and — most importantly, I think — it’s just plain common sense.

So, my message today is simple: Let’s keep it up.

All told, the United States has invested nearly $4 billion across the length of the Lobito Corridor. But we’re not alone. Collectively, this group mobilized over $6 billion in private and public investments. But these aren’t just investments in the region; they’re investments in all of our futures, no matter where you are in the world.

Think about it. Critical minerals our world needs for electric vehicles and semiconductors can be found here. Clean energy we need to power artificial intelligence data centers and economic growth can be built here. Food we need to end hunger can be grown and transported and exported from all across the corri- — this corridor.

Put simply, as all of you know well, nations across the Lobito Corridor have solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems.

We just need to keep working together — and I believe this from the bottom of my heart — if we work together — to mobilize more capital, to build more infrastructure to help make these solutions real, to help Africa — help Africa lead the way.

I’ve said to these guys and my colleagues here for a while, the last two days, you know, by 2070, the continent of Africa is going to have half the world’s population. How can that survive without having the most — the greatest infrastructure in the world? It has to happen.

To help Africa lead the way, we need more capital, more infrastructure to deal with these real solutions. And that’s why we’re here today. I want to make sure I get to hear from all of you.

So, let me close with this. When we talk about the PGI, we often talk about the big picture: investment numbers, rising exports, national prosperity. But it’s important to remember, at its core, what we’re doing is about our people. I mean, it’s simple pra- — about individuals, about our people. That’s what this is about. And if I — it’s about the farmer who can get more food on more tables because of what we’re doing; the worker who can count on a living wage and safe working conditions; the entrepreneur who is finally empowered to lead, innovate, and build.

It matters. It matters. So, thank you again for being here today and allowing me to be here. And let’s get started getting this done.

Back to you, Amos.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President.

Next, we’ll turn to President Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the largest deposits of copper and cobalt that are now going to be switching direction on this corridor. So, would be grateful to hear your reflections on how this is proceeding and what we need to do in the future for the DRC.

PRESIDENT TSHISEKEDI: (As interpreted.) Thank you, Amos.

Your excellence, President João Lourenço. Excellency, President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia. Your excellency, President Joe Biden of the United States of America. Your excellency, Mr. Mpango, vice president of Zambia. Distinguished ministers. Distinguished guests. Ladies and gentlemen.

It is a true pleasure for me to speak here today at this meeting focused on the development of the Lobito Corridor. This is a project that is full of hope for our countries and our region.

I would like to warmly thank President João Lourenço for his leadership and hospitality.

The corridor is way more than just a transportation axis. It is a unique opportunity for regional integration, economic transformation, and to improve the living conditions of our fellow citizens.

This railway that connects the mining regions of the DRC and Zambia to the Port of Lobito is conceived in order to transport as much as 20 million metric tons of goods per year by 2030.

This is not just an infrastructure project; it is also a link between our three countries — the DRC, Zambia, and Angola. It is the symbol of our collective will to convert the potential of our countries into a tangible prosperity for our peoples by fostering a harmonious interdependence between our countries where our economies can blossom.

For the DRC, the Lobito Corridor is a strategic opportunity to make sure that we get value out of our natural resources, mostly copper and cobalt, because this makes up to 70 tho- — 70 percent of the global demand for the current energy transition. With a production — a combined production of 3 million tons a year between DRC and Zambia, this project will significantly reduce the logistics cost, as well as it will improve and increase our export revenues.

This is a unique opportunity to access — to access, rather, the global markets through the Port of Lobito, and this gives us a strategic alternative to the other exportation corridors.

With its 1,739 kilometers, this railroad is connected to our roads and — and other rails, and it will play an important role in regional integration and continental integration.

The human impact is potentially enormous. It will catalyze the creation of about 30,000 jobs, direct and indirect, and it will reduce poverty and foster exchanges within Africa, in line with Agenda 2063 of the AU.

Today, transit can take up to 30 days or more, and it will be down to 10 days. This will increase our competitiveness on the international market. This is not just a logistical project, but it is a driving force for economic and social transformation for millions of our people.

The DRC is fully committed to this project. As such, we have implemented a number of concrete actions in order to modernize our rail, road, and port infrastructures. We are trying to establish fluid and strategic connections between our main mining sites, like Kolwezi and Likasi, and the rail corridor — the rail corridor.

In parallel, we’ve put local transformation or processing of our natural resources at the heart of our economic strategy. It is imperative that the wealth contained in our ground contribute directly to the well-being of our peoples. This means that we need to develop industrial value chains locally so we can add value before we export.

Inga 3, our project, as well as other renewable energy projects, are essential to provide reliable energy supply that is sustainable and adapted to the demands of our expanding industry.

These efforts will make our investments more competitive, and we will be able to respect our environmental commitments.

Also, we will continue to strengthen the legal framework and the institutional framework to foster private investments and to guarantee transparency and good governance. These remain utmost priorities to foster a climate of trust and to make sure that our partnerships are win-win partnerships.

However, to fully realize the potential of the Lobito Corridor, peace and security in the region remain paramount.

We would like to thank Angola for its determining role in Luanda Process, and we reaffirm our engagement to working for a definitive return to peace in the east of our country, and security will be the bedrock of any sustainable development.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank our international partners, including the United States of America, for their technical and financial support through strategic initiatives like Power Africa and PGI. This support is a testimony to the geostrategic importance of the Lobito Corridor in the global supply chains and potential for it to be a catalyst for development.

In order to seize this opportunity and to invest in development of rail, energy, and port infrastructures, we will need investments. This will help make this sustainable.

The Lobito Corridor is surely an element that can be leveraged for growth. It is a model for regional integration, and it is a shared source of prosperity.

I believe firmly that, thanks to our cooperation and our determination, this project will go beyond expectations and will change the trajectory of our region for good.

The DRC stands ready to play its role in this. With our brothers and sisters in the region, we will move forward with this common vision — joined vision and unfailing will to have a better future for our people.

Thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President.

President Hichilema of Zambia, two years ago, during Vice President Harris’ visit to Zambia, you helped draw — literally, draw the map and the line for the greenfield project for the — the newest part of phase two for the Lobito Corridor rail. We’re very happy that you’re here to be able to share some thoughts on how this could really be transformational for — for Zambia.

Mr. President.

PRESIDENT HICHILEMA: Tha- — thank you very much, Amos, moderator.

Let me just recognize President Biden and President Lourenço, our host. Thank you for hosting us.

President Tshisekedi, our neighbor, regional partner; Vice President Mpango, recognize you. Chief executive AFC, my dear friend here. And chief executive KoBold, our partner in Zambia. And also, the CEO American corporation.

Amos, first it’s — it’s my duty, really, on behalf of the people of Zambia, to appreciate this initiative, the Lobito Corridor; to thank President Biden for his effort, he — his government, American people for the recognition of the importance of this corridor, and, obviously, the origination being in Angola here, through DRC, through Zambia — the map that we drew in my dingy office in Lusaka when Amos visited.

And through that connection from — from Angola, which we believe will be (inaudible) on to Chingola, and then connecting that — very important — connecting that to the TAZARA corridor, which will really mean that we can connect our continent, this part of Africa, from the west coast in Lobito here, where we are, through DRC, Zambia, into Tanzania.

It’s a huge, huge opportunity, not just for Zambia. Angola, DRC, Tanzania — happens that these countries are all SADC countries. It’s good for SADC. It’s good for individual countries. It’s good for SADC.

Not just us; it’s good for Africa — the Africa free trade area we are talking about, with the building blocks of our regional bodies — individual countries, regional bodies — SADC, East African community, West African community.

The Africa free-trade ar- — free-trade area we are envisaging, this corridor is of vital importance to opening up our countries, to opening up our regions, the continent, and, truly, the global economy — the U.S., yes; Europe; other parts of the global community, if I may say that.

So, I am aware that, at this stage, not many will see what we are discussing today and how valuable it will be 10 years down the road. But this is really a fundamental, if you like, change to our countries, to our economies, to our people.

I must say that this project is a huge opportunity for investment, for trade. We are talking about the rail infrastructure but also auxiliary infrastructure: the roads that would feed into this corridor; the opportunities for us to invest in the critical minerals; to apply our technology, the global technology — capital, of course, as President Biden said, but the technologies to exploit the resource endowments in our countries, to start with, in critical minerals to make our global economy greener, safer for us, for the future generations, so we can pass on a world that is able to raise children in a healthier environment, because the air will be reasonably cleaner than what it is today.

And the resource endowments that we have that we can exploit through this corridor in an efficient way, a way that will shorten the distances — connect, yes — but shorten the distances to trade — to invest, to trade. It is extremely — very, very, very important.

But also, I want to indicate that it’s not just the rail infrastructure. It’s not just the critical minerals. It’s also the opportunities to invest in energy — energy itself — diversification of our energy portfolios in these countries, in our regions, on our continent, which, yet again, will contribute to a greener — greener world, to meet our carbon emissions targets, which we simply talk about every COP — COP25, 27, to whatever. I think this is walking the talk, in our view.

Solar, geothermal, wind, and others. This project will make it an imperative for us to invest in the energy that is required to exploit the critical minerals. We need (inaudible).

What else? Agriculture. Very important. Food security. In our countries, with the climate change, the need for us to water harvest, to irrigate — precision irrigation — to increase our productivity per hectare of land we have so we don’t cut more trees to create fields. But for the same hectare, instead of producing, I’d say, corn, two tons per hectare, we can move to 12, 13, 14, 15 tons per hectare. This corridor delivers benefits in those areas.

I can go on, but let me just encapsulate it this way. This opportunity really will deliver efficiencies. This project, this opportunity will deliver growth in our individual economies on our continent, contribute to global growth — positive growth, cleaner growth; jobs; food security.

I already said green economies. What else? Business opportunities. We were taken around, first, just the place where we are here. Look at this facility. This facility now — and I’m very enthused. Where is my colleague there? I think that family is doing a great job. This is what Africa needs.

Our young people go out to study. They choose to come back home. They choose to invest here, working with the global capital, working with global technological advancements.

This facility will now be able not just to take in raw materials from the (inaudible) growers in a scheme, small-scale farmers having input supplied to them, having an offtake, assured market, a fair price improves their lives — this is great — but also be able to export beyond Angola and beyond Africa. This is what Africa needs today.

It also is important for treasury income. I don’t have to ask the question, my president here, how much this business contributes to the Angola’s treasury income, which is essential for Angola and for our economies to look after the weak, the sick, the old, the young in our communities.

And this is the connection, President Biden, that we see — your initiative, our collective effort, AFC here, KoBold here. It just took a visit. One of the times you invited me to the States, (inaudible) states were able to contrive a partnership. Now we have a mine that we are developing with KoBold — an American investment in partnership with Zambia, and we’ll do great things together.

This corridor will make it easier to do that business for — for all.

I think I want to end here to say this is good for our countries. This is good for our region, for our continent. This is good for America. This is good for the global community.

Thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank
you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President.

I’d like to turn to Vice President Mpango of Tanzania.

President Biden has often talked about the Lobito Corridor not just as a corridor for the three countries — of DRC and Zambia — but as a transcontinental, and going from ocean to ocean, the end point being Tanzania.

So, we’re very glad to have you here. The floor is yours, Mr. President.

VICE PRESIDENT MPANGO: His excellency, João Lourenço, president of the Republic of Angola, and our gracious host. His excellency, Joe Biden, president of the United States of America. His excellency, Hakainde Hichilema, president of the Republic of Zambia, and my neighbor. His excellency, Hakainde Hichilem- — his excellency, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The high-level dignitaries around the table, distinguished guests.

On behalf of her excellency, Samia Suluhu Hassan, president of the United Republic of Tanzania, I am honored to join this high-level meeting on the Lobito Corridor, which is a regional interconnection project of immense significance not just to Angola, the DRC, and Zambia, but to the broader SADC region and beyond.

Tanzania commends Angola and partners for this bold initiative to unlock the economic potential of Central and Southern Africa by linking this region to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Lobito Corridor, therefore, demonstrates how infrastructure can be a catalyst for social economic integration, trade facilitation, technology transfer, and regional development.

By bolstering connectivity, the Lobito Corridor will not only facilitate the movement of people, goods, and services, but will also promote shared prosperity and inclusive growth across the region.

Tanzania is no stranger to such aspirations, as it already links landlocked countries in Central Africa with the — with the Middle East, Asia, and the Far East. The Tanzania-Zambia railway — or, in short, TAZARA — and the oil pipeline TAZAMA, all connecting the hinterland to the Indian Ocean, have facilitated connectivity, cooperation and shared prosperity since the 1970s.

And through the SADC Protocols on Transport, Communication, and Meteorology, Tanzania is already linked to her neighbors and the wider region, enhancing the movement of people, goods, and opportunities across borders.

TAZARA is an interstate rail link, which allows trains to move from Tanzania to some SADC member states, including Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Tanzania extends profound gratitude to the United States for its steadfast support in advancing the development of the Lobito Corridor. The U.S. commitment to this transformative project reflects its enduring partnership with Africa and its recognition of the catalytic role of infrastructure in development.

In the same vein, we would like to commend the support of AFC and other partners for partnering with the U.S. in support of the development of the Lobito Corridor.

Tanzania views the Lobito Corridor as an integral part of a broader strategy to enhance connectivity in Africa.

We also appreciate the fact that the implementation of the project will provide important opportunities for Africa’s development in sectors such as agriculture, renewable energy, digital transformation, trade, and logistics along the corridor.

Tanzania is already undertaking in- — internal consultations aiming at aligning this project with national priorities and other bilateral and regional commitments.

In closing, allow me to reiterate Tanzania’s commitment to regional integration and shared prosperity. We note the progress made on the development of the Lobito Corridor and commend the visionary leadership that has brought this initiative to life. And it is through such partnerships and innovations that Africa’s Agenda 2063 will be realized.

I thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

I’d like to turn it over to the AFC — the Africa Finance Corporation. Mr. Samaila Zubairu has been a fantastic partner to this project. The AFC has invested across the many projects across the corridor and has been a great partner to making this — to realize this — of investment together, having a partnership with the United States, together with you, in promoting this project as an investable, bankable, and commercial project.

Mr. Zubairu.

MR. ZUBAIRU: Thank you.

Your excellencies, President João Lourenço of Angola, our gracious host. President Joseph R. Biden of United States of America. President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia. Vice President Philip Mpango of Tanzania. Honorable ministers. Members of the consortium. Distinguished guests.

It is my honor and privilege to stand before you here today.

Our purpose at the Africa Finance Corporation is to build the infrastructure that will catalyze Africa’s industrialization and structural economic transformation.

The Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor is exactly the project we are made for and what the founders envisaged when they created AFC 17 years ago.

I have three key messages today: the partnership that got us here, what this project means, and our commitment to deliver this project for future generations.

I recall our first meeting with Amos Hochstein on the margins of the 2022 year’s Africa Leaders Summit convened by President Biden almost two years ago. Amos, at that time, was special presidential coordinator of the newly formed G7 PGI. We agreed, in not so many words, that we’ll do something together that will have a generational impact on our two continents.

I stand here today as lead developer of the Lobito-Zambia greenfield rail corridor, doing exactly what we said we will do. Since that meeting in December 2022, we signed an MOU formally constituting the project consortium in October 2023, comprising the governments of Angola, Zambia, and the DRC, alongside the United States, the European Commission, and the African Development Bank.

In February 2024, we commissioned a feasibility study with CPCS as technical consultant. That same month, we cohosted the Lobito Corridor private sector investment forum in Lusaka, alongside President Hichilema and the U.S. government.

In April 2024, we commenced the legal work stream with Linklaters.

In June 2024, we welcomed the government of Italy to the consortium and their commitment to — of $320 million. Thanks to President Biden for making that happen.

In September 2024, we completed a feasibility study and signed a $2 million grant agreement with USTDA in support of the enviro- — social impact assessment, which has been commissioned for delivery by decision analysis.

On the margins of UNGA this September, we signed the concession agreement with the governments of Angola and Zambia in the sec- — in the ceremony hosted by Secretary Blinken.

With thanks to President Lourenço, we have commenced — who has given (inaudible) instructions for the demanding efforts, we have taken a fundamental step towards unlocking the cultural value chain around the rail corridor.

We are now on track to break ground by early ‘26 in both Zambia and Angola. We plan to break ground at the same time from two different locations.

We have done all this while acting as financial adviser for the Lobito Atlantic Rail consortium, concessionaire of the Benguela rail line, which runs from the Port of Lobito here to Luau in DRC.

The rapid pace at which we are moving reflects the urgency of the type of development Africans are demanding from their leaders and the conviction of this consortium to execute. In particular, the resolve of the minister of transport of Angola, Ricardo Viegas D’Abreu, and the minister of transport and logistics for Zambia, Honorable Frank Tayali.

What this project means — we’ve heard about what this project means. I’ll just mention a key — a few statements. The Lobito Corridor is more than just a rail line. It is an economic corridor that provides lower cost, lower carbon gateway to African integration and global competitiveness, cutting travel time from the Copperbelt to international markets from 45 days to 45 hours, as we heard President Biden mention recently.

Shifting freight from road to rail will cut emissions by a minimum of 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, underscoring Africa’s primacy in the global energy transition and efforts to decarbonize the battery minerals value chain, particularly in producing battery precursors for both our industries here and in America.

It al- — it will also catalyze opportunities in ecotourism, agribusiness, and power transmission lines.

Earlier this week, President Lourenço offered us an opportunity to help build transmission lines and interconnectors to the Copperbelt and the South African Power Pool, as well as to the Lobito Atlantic Rail Corridor.

Our commitment: Here today, we celebrate our decision to step in as project developers for this greenfield railway.

But this is just the beginning. I am delighted to announce AFC’s commitment of $500 million in financing for the Lobito-Zambia greenfield rail. This investment reflects our confidence in the project’s transformative potential to deliver economic benefits that transcend borders.

We will mobilize African pension funds to invest alongside us, ensuring generational sustainability. We will also partner with other MDBs and financial institutions to cocreate instruments that crowd in global institutional capital, as was successfully done in markets such as Japan and the Gulf.

In addition, we have signed a memorandum of understanding with KoBold Metals as our anchor client, guaranteeing a minimum of 300,000 tons of copper and related freight per year. We have also pledged $100 million to Kobaloni Energy for Zambia’s first battery-grade copper sulfate facility.

Excellencies, distinguished guests, this project symbolizes what Africa’s leadership, together with our global partners, can achieve when we unite behind a shared vision. It is not just about railways or minerals or food security. It is about forging partnerships, creating jobs, and driving a sustainable future for Africa and the rest of the world.

Together, let us seize this moment and make history. Thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. Zubairu. And let me repeat again: Thank you, again, on behalf of everyone, for just making today’s announcement of committing an additional $500 million for the project and starting it at the same time between Zambia and Angola is a great step forward.

You mentioned KoBold Metals. And all of this is not possible without the private sector coming and making the investments in the countries of the corridor. KoBold is literally the company that connects the 20th century and the 21st century. It’s a technology company that’s gone into the mining industry for products that will go into chips and electric vehicles.

So, very glad that you’re here with us. And thank you, Josh, for being here and for your words.

MR. GOLDMAN: Your excellencies, President Biden, President Lourenço, President Hichilema, President Tshisekedi, Vice President Mpango, Director Ebong, CEO Zubairu, thank you very much. It’s really an honor to be here.

KoBold is the world’s most advanced mineral exploration company. The next phase of global economic growth is going to require significantly expanding supply of metals like copper and lithium to make everything from cars to data centers for AI.

But the mining industry keeps getting worse at finding more deposits of these metals — ten times less successful today than a generation ago. And the problem just keeps getting harder. The mines in production today, the vast majority were easily discovered and they were discovered many years ago.

So, at KoBold, we invent technology to improve exploration and discover the next generation of ore deposits. And we use our technology to go out and explore all over the world, at scale, using a powerful combination of artificial intelligence and human intelligence.

And then, when we make discoveries, we develop mines in ways that deliver lasting benefits to the countries and the communities where we operate.

In Zambia, we’re developing the Mingomba deposit, which will be one of the largest copper mines in the world. And we are very proud to be an anchor partner of the — the new Zambia-DRC-Angola Lobito rail, because the Lobito Corridor fits the way that we do business.

First, we move fast. The economic impact and the creation of good jobs needs to happen now, not later. CEO Zubairu said that there will be shovels in the ground on the greenfield Zambia-Angola portion of the Lobito rail, and that’s great news, because at KoBold, we’re working to start major construction on the Mingomba mine also in 2026.

We will ship at least 300,000 tons per year of copper on the Lobito rail so that our investments at Mingomba can accelerate development across the region. And the faster we all move, the better for everyone.

Second, we succeed because of our partnerships. We work every day with our most important partners throughout the Zambian government and with our joint venture partners at ZCM-IH. Together, we’ll create thousands of good jobs that will last for generations and will in- — increase intra-African trade. And our partnerships succeed because KoBold follows the rules and government supports our investments with actions that are fair, transparent, and fast.

Third, we raise the standards, as CEO Zubairu said. To succeed where industry is failing at finding more metals, we have to do better science, and we’re equally committed to raising the standards for protecting communities, the environment, and the rule of law. We’re committed to the Lobito Corridor because the standards are high, and that’s how KoBold works.

Lastly, the private sector can step up and deliver. This year, KoBold’s investors, our shareholders, came to Africa. They saw Mingomba. They met with key policy makers. We see the value that Lobito can create for the Mingomba mine, for our future discoveries. So, it will help enable the next round of investment and the next one.

And we’re building the foundation of — for success of our business and for the region, and we’ll be your partners every step of the way. Thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Josh. In the United States, we’ve been proud of the fact that the government — we’ve been working towards government-enabled and private-sector led.

And under President Biden’s leadership, we have sought to expand the ability of the finance corporations of the United States — EXIM Bank, DFC, the MCC — these are all acronyms — for our export-supporting agencies.

And with us today is one of those agency heads, Enoh Ebong of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, to be able to talk about what the United States, over the last few years, in a very short period of time since President Biden not only launched this initiative but addressed the Africa Leaders Summit and made the commitment of turning the support from not only assistance but also investment.

So, with us, Enoh Ebong will be able to address how we’ve been able to do that and what the United States wants to do further.

Enoh.

MS. EBONG: Thank you. Your excellencies, President Lourenço, President Tshisekedi, President Hichilema, Vice President Mpango, our own President Biden, private-sector partners, when President Biden launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, he called upon our government to prioritize working with like-minded partners on the development of their infrastructure priorities. PGI has since become a critical global platform for the work of more than a dozen U.S. government agencies.

We are here because of your vision for connecting a region and its citizens to the life-changing opportunities that the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor can offer.

Through PGI, we are delivering game-changing deals and harnessing what no other country can: the innovation of our private sector.

For our part, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency helps mobilize capital by working alongside U.S. industry to prepare infrastructure projects through grant-based funding for feasibility studies, technical assistance, and pilot projects.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Agen- — the — the U.S. In- — Agency for International Development are all funding significant commitments to sustainable infrastructure in your countries, including rail, clean energy, digital access, and opening the door for sectors like agribusiness.

Through PGI, we are using the full U.S. government tool kit to catalyze private investment and deliver innovative U.S. technology, high-quality infrastructure, and inclusive economic growth in the communities along the Lobito Corridor.

Our partnership with you is generating results — results that will endure for decades to come. We are at a hopeful inflection point in our shared history — one which calls to mind the Angolan national motto, “Virtus Unita Fortior”, which is a call for strength through unity.

We are inspired to convene in Lobito, a gateway to the world, to solidify our momentum and celebrate the strength of the partnership that we have built together. Thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Enoh.

And as we come to a close, President Lourenço, none of what we’ve heard today or what we’ve done over the last couple of years would have been possible without your partnership, your leadership, your friendship, and your commitment to this corridor.

I’d like to turn to you for any closing remarks that you may have. Mr. President.

PRESIDENT LOURENÇO: (As interpreted.) Thank you very much. I would like to thank the presence of everyone, not only that of head of states, but also all our partners, private-sector financial institutions, and particularly thank President Joe Biden for — for the seriousness in keeping up to the promise made at the U.S. Leaders — U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that has said — is now being implemented.

So, this big project of Lobito Corridor is an infrastructure that we, as African statesmen, have been claiming for so that it can ensure the development of our continent. So, without connectivity, without (inaudible), we cannot ensure food security and development of a continent.

So, once again, thank you very much to all of you. Feel yourselves at home while you remain in the Angolan territory, and you are mostly welcome at any time you would wish to visit Angola.

Thank you very much.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President. President Biden has told me that he is not a patient man and that, when he wants to deal with infrastructure, he wants it to happen as soon as possible. That is true in the United States. It is surely true here as well.

Mr. President, you heard today that shovels are already in the ground and working here in Angola. It is already cutting the time since your announcement in the DRC. And you heard again today that the shovels will be in the ground for the greenfield project. You promised that the beginning of 2026 in the — for the greenfield.

Mr. President, I hope that what you’ve seen and heard today from the private sector and from the other leaders is a demonstration of the transformative impact of your commitment that you made and the commitment that has been now delivered through the last couple of years, since the — since you launched this project a year and a half ago and since your commitment at the Africa Leaders Summit.

Mr. President, I hope you can — closing remarks to adjourn this meeting.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Mr. President, I’m coming back to ride on the train, all the way, from end to end.

I — as they say, if you — when we — on the Senate floor of the United States Senate, “Excuse a point of personal privilege.” I’ve ridden an awful lot on trains. I commute every day 212 miles a day on Amtrak from Washington to my hometown to Wilmington, Delaware, as a senator. And so, I — I like trains a lot. (Laughs.) So, I’m coming back. You’re stuck with me.

I want to close with one final thought. It’s almost exactly this day, just over 160 years ago, my country, the United States, broke ground on America’s first transcontinental railroad.

President Abraham Lincoln called it, quote, “the proudest thing of his life.” “The proudest thing of his life.” And — and he hoped that when he retired as president, he said, he’d be able to take a trip on that rail line.

I want to take a trip on this rail line, if I can.

Folks, PGI is one of the things that I’m most proud of in my presidency. The Lobito Corridor and all the work you all are doing proves why.

Because, like Lincoln, we’re not just laying tracks; we’re laying the groundwork for a better future for our people — ordinary people, people that’s going to create jobs. It’s going to create good-paying jobs for people. It’s going to put them in a position where they can have the benefits people around the world have without having to long for them and actually get them.

And so, you know, laying the groundwork for better a future is what we’re all doing here, in my view — a future of innovation, a future of opportunity, and, quite frankly, a future of pride.

Back home in the United States, I often say that when people see big infrastructure projects in their hometown — when they see cranes in the air, shovels in the ground — it literally gives them hope. It gives them hope and brings pride back to communities that have left behind for too long, communities that used to have industry but no longer have it.

And — and Africa has been left behind for much too long beyond that, but not anymore.

Africa is the future. I’m not being solicitous. Those of you who’ve had to deal with me, I’ve been focusing on Africa since I was a kid in the United States Senate heading the Africa Affairs subcommittee. It is the future, and we have to step up.

And I could not be prouder that our governments, our businesses, and our workers — (coughs) — excuse me — are working together to seize that future — that future — to build something that will deliver for the region and, quite frankly, deliver to the whole world — deliver to the whole world.

Going to get your coba- — your — your materials — instead of them coming in, you know, 45 days, they’ll come in 48 hours now. No, I’m serious. It’s a — it’s a big deal, as we say where I come from.

To build something that will deliver for the region and the world — something that, if done right, will outlast all of us and keep delivering for our people for generations to come.

So, thank you again for your partnership.

Thank you, Mr. President, and all of you for your leadership.

And I can’t wait to see all of you will continue to accomplish here in the Lobito Corridor in years ahead, and I think it’s going to set a standard for the rest of the world.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you. And I really appreciate being able to work with you and what you’re doing. Appreciate it. (Applause.)

2:59 P.M. WAT

The post Remarks by President Biden Participating in the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit | Benguela, Angola appeared first on The White House.

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Washington, D.C.

MR. SULLIVAN:  Well, good afternoon.  And thank you, John.  It’s a pleasure for me to be here, and it’s a pleasure for me to come talk about what is, yes, a technical topic, but also a deeply strategic topic for the future of U.S. defense and deterrence and for the future of American statecraft.

Earlier this week, President Biden signed his 71st security assistance package for Ukraine.  It was the latest step in a massive effort, on a scale not seen since the Second World War, to equip a partner with the military capability it needs to defend its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity against a brutal invasion by a larger neighbor.

And in the process of providing that support, we have also modernized our own arsenal.  With every package, the Department of Defense provides Ukraine older equipment it has on the shelf, and then uses congressionally appropriated funding to purchase new, more modern equipment for our own stockpiles.  This approach has enabled Ukraine to stand up against an adversary with an economy 10 times larger, a population three times bigger, and a military once ranked the second best in the world.

But at no stage was this historic undertaking a sure thing. In fact, in a matter of eight weeks of war in 2022, Ukraine burned through a year’s worth of U.S. 155-millimeter artillery production.

I hold a daily meeting on Russia and Ukraine in my office at the White House, and in those early months, in those daily meetings, we reviewed Ukraine’s run rate in excruciating detail, and we confronted a startling reality: The American arsenal of democracy was fundamentally underequipped for the task at hand. So, President Biden issued a straightforward order: Exponentially ramp up the production of 155-millimeter artillery munitions.  It turned out, executing on that was not so straightforward.

At a stretch, we could only immediately add about 400 rounds on top of the 14,000 rounds we produced each month, enough for Ukraine to defend itself for a few extra hours.  Our industrial capacity simply wasn’t there.  We lacked supplies of critical precursor materials.  We had to dig ourselves out of a deep hole.

Now, to offset their early munition shortage, Ukraine began to leverage drones and autonomous systems.  And this is the second part of the story, one that continues to evolve today on the frontlines.  They used off-the-shelf technology and cheap, mass-produced platforms to rapidly build an army of drones. 

But even as Ukraine demonstrated success on the battlefield with these new systems, we were behind the curve in innovating, acquiring, and fielding those types of systems ourselves, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.  The deeper we looked, the clearer it became that we needed larger stocks of many critical munitions and weapons platforms, both to maintain U.S. readiness and to equip a partner under attack.

Now, the men and women of our national security and defense communities are extraordinary, and they can pull rabbits out of hats.  I’ve seen it done.  But decades of under-investment and consolidation had seriously eroded our defense industrial base, and there was no way around it.

Now, in some respects, we had recognized this challenge from the moment we entered office, and in fact, we started taking steps to fix it in the President’s very first budget request.  But Russia’s war against Ukraine sharpened the stakes and clarified the scope of the challenge.  It was a strategic warning.

America’s defense industrial base, the one we inherited, was not up to the task that we face in a new age of strategic competition, including how we have to prepare for and deter future conflicts in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific.

So we had to act, and we did act.  We did so thanks to the President’s clear direction, the able leadership of Secretary Austin and Deputy Secretary Hicks, and strong bipartisan congressional support. 

By the time we leave office, our defense industrial base will be producing 55,000 155-millimeter artillery rounds per month, almost a 400 percent increase, and we’ve put it on track to double again, reaching 100,000 per month by early 2026.

But this effort extends way beyond 155-millimeter ammunition rounds.  As we’ve drawn down our older stockpiles to support Ukraine of other weapons, we’ve invested in new weapons and platforms to replace them.  Industry has responded and reoriented to meet our demand signal.  New production lines have opened and increased output.  We’re now building more javelins in Alabama and Arizona; tanks in Ohio; armored vehicles in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; HIMARS in Arkansas; rockets in West Virginia.  And our investments, all told, reach dozens of states. 

We’ve galvanized defense industries, commercial companies, startups, and venture capital firms to focus increasingly on developing low-cost, uncrewed systems for our allies, and countering those of our adversaries and competitors.  

The story also extends well beyond Ukraine, from our efforts to revitalize the submarine industrial base to a groundbreaking initiative with Canada and Finland to spur the production of polar icebreakers. 

All told, the Biden administration has made major investments across four defense budgets and multiple supplemental funding bills to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base, devoting almost $1.3 trillion to the research, development, and acquisition of capabilities that is driving production and driving industrial capacity.

In real dollars spent, this is more than the United States investment in procurement and R&D in any four-year period throughout the entire Cold War. 

But this challenge is not one that can be met in a single term in office.  There is still so much work to do.  This has to be a generational project. 

So, today I want to do two things.  First, I want to share the steps that we’ve taken to modernize, invigorate, and expand our defense industrial base.  And then, second, I want to offer a roadmap for the next Congress and the next administration to carry this work forward on a bipartisan basis.

But let me provide a little bit of context. 

Over the past several years, we’ve seen a tectonic shift in the global landscape.  We’ve seen the rise of a peer competitor in the PRC.  We’ve seen patterns of cooperation deepen between the PRC, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.  We’ve seen the proliferation of low-cost lethal technologies to a number of state and non-state actors across multiple continents. 

Against this backdrop, a strong defense industrial base is essential to effective statecraft.  This means not just more investment, but smarter investment, production, innovation, and integration with allies.

A stronger defense industrial base is necessary for us to deter military aggression against NATO or our Indo-Pacific allies and partners.  It’s necessary for us to equip our partners when they come under attack.  It’s necessary for us to respond to threats to the global commons, including freedom of navigation.  And it’s necessary to strengthen our hand at the negotiating table as we pursue diplomacy to end conflicts like we recently have done with the war that raged across the border between Israel and Lebanon.

In the Cold War era, our DIB was formidable, but it took a long time to build up.  We understood then, almost intuitively, that our production capacity was central to our military capability and, therefore, to our deterrence.  When the Iron Curtain fell, we turned the page.  In the decades that followed, we enjoyed a brief moment without a peer competitor to pace us, and our defense enterprise atrophied. 

In part due to the urging from the government, mergers collapsed significant defense companies into each other, from 50 to the five major prime contractors that we have today.  Factories closed.  Production lines shut down.  Our skilled workforce declined.  The number of defense suppliers shrank.  And many of our supply lines migrated overseas. 

Now, I’m not suggesting we need to retool for a new Cold War, but we once again face a dangerous, complex, and contested global landscape.  Our adversaries and competitors are taking more risks, and importantly, they’re working together to strengthen each other’s defense capacity. 

So, today, once again, we need to heed the maxim that industrial might is deterrence.  Given the DIB we inherited, our task has been to reverse years of decline while simultaneously increasing agility, innovation, and integration. 

So we’ve made three big pushes to try to strengthen our defense industrial base:

First, as I’ve described, by boosting production of munitions and weapons platforms and creating the infrastructure to sustain that boost in production.  This has meant new factories, new lines, accelerated delivery times on the weapons and munitions we need most. 

The Department of Defense released its first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy.  We’re strengthening supply chain resilience and increasing stockpiles of key inputs, like the solid rocket motors that power our most advanced missiles.  We’ve made notable progress on our air defenses, another critical component of our global defense architecture, which is in high and increasing demand across Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific.

Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain are working together to procure almost $6 billion worth of Patriot missiles that are now being produced through a joint venture between a U.S. and German company. 

At the same time, we’re working to expand joint production deals with Japan to strengthen our air defense umbrella in the Indo-Pacific.

On long-range fires, another essential element of deterrence in the modern era, we’ve made big strides towards modernization.  We’re investing heavily in the next generation of ground attack missiles, what we call PrSM, to rapidly increase production capacity. 

We’re taking similar steps to expand production of several kinds of anti-ship missiles across a variety of ranges. 

And we’ve made significant investments across the American shipbuilding supply chain — that entire supply chain.  The challenge there on shipbuilding has been especially immense.  We’ve sought to recover from an erosion that actually traces its decline to decades of erosion in the overall American manufacturing base.

Over the last 40 years, in the submarine industrial base alone, five shipyards closed, the workforce shrank, suppliers left the market.  Our approach to production was built on post-Cold War assumptions about a global security environment and just-in-time supply chains that, frankly, have not borne out. 

To give you a sense of the scale of the problem, we need an additional 140,000 more skilled workers — 140,000 — machinists, welders, pipe fitters, electricians — than we currently have to meet submarine production demand over the next 10 years. 

Now, we can’t fix four decades of challenges in four years, but we have surged to invest in our submarine industrial base.  With billions of dollars in new funding, we’re developing new suppliers across more than 30 states to reduce bottlenecks, expand the use of robotics and additive manufacturing, and upgrade and expand shipyards. 

These investments will leave the submarine industrial base in a stronger position, but frankly, more is needed.  And so, we’re seeking more funds from Congress, especially for more manufacturing technology, for more infrastructure improvements, and for wage increases to ensure we can retain the workers we have while we work to hire thousands more. 

The second big push we’ve made is to try to leverage and unleash the potential of innovative technologies and the power and speed of our commercial sector.

On the battlefield in Ukraine, we’re seeing the character of war evolve before our eyes as Ukraine pairs artificial intelligence with low-cost drones to create powerful and cheap alternatives to precision-guided munitions. 

Ukraine’s missile and drone manufacturers are among the most innovative on the planet, a product of both necessity and Ukrainian resolve and ingenuity.  They bring groundbreaking, state-of-the-art capabilities to the fight at costs that are an order of magnitude lower than our traditional munitions. 

By facilitating collaboration between American and Ukrainian industry, we’re ensuring that our own companies are pioneering new technologies to complement our more exquisite capabilities.  Our firms are learning what technologies work best and how to use them and iterate them during conflict. 

We’re creating a feedback loop that prizes and enshrines innovation.  And that way, the American military can get to and remain on the cutting edge of these new forms of warfighting technology.

Here at home, the Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative is just one example of how we’re trying to adapt more institutionally to the future character of warfare.  Through Replicator, DOD is procuring and fielding attributable [attritable] autonomous capabilities at speed and scale — thousands of systems across air, land, and sea — in less than 24 months. 

And we’re establishing the processes to be able to adopt and scale new technologies as needed in the future, including from non-traditional defense companies and from the commercial sector, because we need to keep pushing the envelope in terms of speed and scale.

Recognizing the power of responsible AI to transform the way militaries fight, we released our first-ever National Security Memorandum on Artificial Intelligence.  It provides a blueprint for harnessing the power and managing the risks of AI to advance our national security.

Now, all this we’re doing at home, but we recognize that we can’t and shouldn’t do this alone.  As strategic competition intensifies, as the global environment becomes more contested, we have to take bold steps in concert with our allies and partners to integrate and strengthen deterrence across the major theaters of the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. 

And that leads to the third big push we’ve been making: laying the foundation to build an integrated defense industrial base for the free world. 

In the first year of our administration, we launched one of the most ambitious defense projects in modern history, the trilateral security partnership, AUKUS.  Under AUKUS, we joined forces with the UK and Australia to support Australia’s acquisition of a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability in ways that will strengthen our collective submarine industrial bases. 

And we’re creating opportunities for innovation and collaboration through AUKUS on cutting-edge technologies in advanced cyber, undersea capabilities, electronic warfare, quantum, AI, and hypersonics. 

Just this year, we held trilateral exercises in Australia, with Japan in attendance, conducting tests on the collective use of autonomous and uncrewed systems in maritime operations. 

And this push for an integrated DIB for the free world extends way beyond AUKUS.  Over the past four years, we’ve ramped up efforts to expand and accelerate what we call global defense production, a catch-all term for co-development, co-production, and co-sustainment of platforms and munitions with allies and partners. 

Similarly, we’ve worked with our NATO Allies to follow our example and overhaul their defense industrial bases.  And this was a major line of effort and set of outcomes at the NATO Summit President Biden hosted here in Washington for the 75th anniversary of NATO this summer. 

As part of this effort, we’ve had to rethink our strategic technology controls to account for today’s realities.  The fact is our non-proliferation and export control regimes, especially when it comes to allies, were formulated in a different era.  The risks were different.  The nature of technology diffusion was different.  These outdated restrictions have actually caused us to withhold critical technologies from close partners and close allies.  And without a significant change in the way we do business, our friends could be left behind as our adversaries march forward with deeper technology-sharing among themselves.  So we can’t let that happen. 

Through AUKUS, we began the hard work of driving major reforms in our export control regime to strengthen cooperation with Australia and the UK. 

And now, our team is finalizing a National Security Memorandum on Missile Technology Exports to modernize our implementation of the MTCR, the Missile Technology Control Regime. 

We will renew our commitment to a strong non-proliferation regime to keep these technologies out of the hands of bad actors, but we will also add flexibility to transfer this technology to certain partners with strong export control systems.  That means we can now boost our friends’ production of advanced missiles to increase the global availability and interoperability of long-range and precision-guided munitions that can strengthen our collective deterrence.

And this cooperation with our allies and partners enhances not just our national security but, frankly, our joint economic prosperity.  We’re creating jobs for American workers, opening new markets for American businesses, all while reaping the clear national security benefits of this work. 

Those are the three big pushes, and we’ve made progress over the last four years.  But frankly, we need progress over the next 40.  We need a roadmap for the future that builds on what we’ve done, because there is still a lot left to do.  I’m not here to report that the job is finished.  I’m here to report the job has started, and now it needs to continue in a big and sustained and bipartisan way. 

Now, there will be important debates over the size of the defense budget in the new administration and the new Congress.  Wherever the defense topline lands, I see at least four critical pieces of work that demand the sustained effort of the next administration, the next Congress, the armed forces, and industry all working in common purpose.

First, and most fundamentally, we’ve got to keep ramping up and accelerating production and procurement of the things that we need most.  This includes long-range critical munitions, vital air defense capabilities, and attritable and autonomous systems that are shaping the future of warfare.  Because no budget will be unlimited, this is going to require that we make hard trade-offs, prioritizing these key capabilities in particular. 

The bottom line here is that we’ve got to keep growing our magazine depth.  Future conflicts are going to consume munitions and equipment at a rate we have not seen in a very long time.  That means stockpiling both the vital munitions we know we’ll need in sufficient quantities and the components needed to produce them on short notice. 

We actually asked Congress for a critical munitions acquisition fund that would have guaranteed an ongoing demand signal to industry and enabled us to stockpile munitions that are in high demand, both at home and among our partners. 

Despite bipartisan support for that fund, Congress didn’t ultimately come through with the appropriation.  I urge Congress to work with the next administration to get this done.

When it comes to funding our defense needs, we also need Congress to return to regular order.  The practice of relying on continuing resolutions to equip our forces creates uncertainty and instability for both DOD and the industries we rely on. 

Pentagon leaders, and leaders from both parties across multiple administrations, have continually raised the alarm about this.  On a bipartisan basis, Congress should fund the defense enterprise — and, frankly, the rest of the U.S. government — responsibly and on time. 

And we also need industry to do its part to grow our magazine depth, by moving beyond the current cycle in which they hedge against uncertainty and do just enough to meet current demand, even when DOD is prepared to sign multiyear contracts. 

This calls for a new era of public-private partnership to build and sustain more commercial facilities, to maintain warm production lines, and to invest in a long-term effort to shore up our DIB workforce so that we have surge capacity when we need it. 

And while we’re doing that, we need to expand the shipyards, the armories, and the plants owned by DOD as well, to make our defense industrial base more resilient. 

Second, we need to accelerate major acquisition reform at DOD to prize innovation agility and to encourage a degree of risk taking.  This requires rethinking our requirements process to ensure that even tech companies outside the traditional defense orbit can understand and provide what DOD needs.  It requires adapting our system to allow flexibility for innovation mid-cycle in the development of a new system or platform. 

We also need to make it even easier for the defense enterprise to absorb more technological solutions from the commercial sector, and to do so quickly and at scale.

Today, collaboration among DOD, Silicon Valley, and America’s wider innovation ecosystem is better than it’s been in decades.  And that’s been met with significant bipartisan funding and support from Congress.  We’ve got to keep up this virtuous cycle. 

Two years ago, Congress created a bipartisan commission that examined ways to improve the Pentagon’s six-decade-old process for how it plans budgets and spends.  They put forward dozens of smart recommendations that DOD is already in the process of implementing.  But to really make that report work, we need new authorities from Congress too.  The critical munitions acquisition fund is one example of that.  Providing DOD with department-wide resources that can be used to meet emergent requirements is another.

Third, we have to institutionalize the work we’re doing, in concert with our allies and partners, to integrate our defense industrial bases. 

Working together boosts our collective readiness.  It allows us to dramatically expand our total production.  It creates resilience in our supply chains and manufacturing bases.  And most importantly, it strengthens deterrence as our adversaries learn that they will have to deal with the combined industrial might and fighting capacity of the U.S. and our allies and partners around the world. 

And finally, we can produce all the military hardware in the world, but it will mean nothing without our people, the talented men and women of the joint force.  They are the ones who ensure the equipment we buy translates into the capability we need.  They underwrite our deterrence and security, and we have to continue to invest in them and ensure that we’re recruiting and retaining the talent and leadership that we rely on to field the best military in the world, the best military in history. 

Now, none of this will be easy.  We don’t know what the future holds.  But we do know that the best way to preserve peace and protect American interests is to maintain a force that is strong enough to deter a future conflict.  That has been at the front of the President’s mind for nearly four years, and it will have to remain so for the next administration as well. 

We’ve laid the foundation to renew our great arsenal of democracy, but the work will have to continue to ensure we have the munitions and capabilities we need to navigate a myriad of contingencies.  After all, history teaches us that the adversary rarely chooses to start the war that we are most prepared for, but it also teaches us that when we galvanize the collective power of American national security and defense communities, American workers, American businesses, and American ingenuity, we will prevail. 

Thank you for listening to me on what can be a dense subject but I believe a subject of profound consequence for hearing now both on what we have done and what we need to do.  And I look forward to taking a few questions.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.) 

MR. JONES:  Thank you.  And for those who have not read the FDR speech on the arsenal of democracy, it is well worth going back and rereading that from the early days of World War Two. 

Thanks for coming to CSIS.  I wanted to start, actually, not with our industrial base — defense industrial base, but with the Chinese defense industrial base.  Part of the need, I think, for a strong industrial base is that we have adversaries that are building their own. 

So I wonder if you could start off with your sense of where the Chinese are at on their defense industrial base.  What is of particular concern?  Where do you see vulnerabilities?  The new DOD report on China also highlights major corruption within the Chinese industrial base.  So how would you characterize the industrial base?  And what’s the significance, then, as we look at continuing to build ours?

MR. SULLIVAN:  So, first, China has been growing its defense budget year on year, closing the gap in terms of their outlays and ours.  Second, because they have a state-directed system with state-owned enterprises working hand in glove with the PLA, with their military, they’re able to direct production and expand production at rates much more rapidly than we historically have been able to.

And they’ve also increased their innovation capacity, going beyond merely stealing technology, and then copying it, to developing new systems. 

So I think we have to take the overall industrial base capacity of China very seriously, and it is a key factor in the way that we think about what we’ve got to tool up to do ourselves and along with our allies and partners. 

At the same time, I think that there are three areas where the U.S. has inherent advantages.  One of them is: The same state-owned enterprises that are able to very rapidly send the demand signal and generate the production of key munitions and weapons platforms, they’re also — they can put brakes on or limits around innovation. 

And so we continue, I believe, to have an edge.  And watching how Ukraine in particular has dealt with this uncrewed, autonomous system issue, this is something that the U.S. is uniquely capable of being able to iterate, evolve, adapt over time, and that’s an advantage of ours that we need to continue to nurture. 

Second is this corruption problem you described.  I think it is — the reports that you’re referring to and other public reporting on this has shown that throughout the entire PLA, you have major problems of corruption in terms of the acquisition, the testing, and the reporting on the defense capabilities that they have, which raise real questions about whether there’s a gap between reality and advertisement. 

And then, the third goes to the issue of workforce and people, both the people operating the systems and the people building the systems.  And the United States has always had a huge advantage when it comes to people.  Now, we have a shortage of them, but the ones we have are the best in the world and the most tested in the world, because they’ve had to go through building the systems, having them end up in conflict, and then learning lessons from them, adapting them, and so forth.  The PLA really hasn’t, and the entire Chinese defense industrial base really hasn’t had to do that. 

So we’ve got to double down on our advantages.  And where they have the single biggest advantage, the sheer scope and scale of production, we have to close the gap in the ways that I describe by increasing our magazine depth. 

The final point I’ll make is that God forbid we end up in a full-scale war with the PRC, but any war with a country like the PRC, a military like the PRC, is going to involve the exhaustion of munition stockpiles very rapidly.  So, a big part of the answer to a healthy defense industrial base over time is the ability to regenerate, to surge, to build during a conflict, not just to build before to prepare for a conflict.  And that’s got to be a key lesson that we take away from what we’ve seen over the last three years on the battlefield in Ukraine. 

MR. JONES:  So, one follow-up on this.  Your sense and level of concern as we’ve seen greater integration or coordination of the industrial bases of the North Koreans, the Iranians, the Russians, and the Chinese.  What does that say about cooperation between them and their industrial bases?  And what’s the implication then for us?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I’m glad you mention that.  And when you asked the question, I made a mental note in my head to get to that point, because it’s a critical point.  I didn’t do so, although I spoke about it in my remarks.

We are seeing concerning flows of capability and know-how among these various actors.  You’ve got Iranian drones going to Russia; now Russia is indigenizing that capability.  You’ve got North Korean munitions going to Russia, and in return, Russia is sending back know-how and capacity in some of the more high-end capabilities that North Korea is trying to develop.  Going both ways between Russia and the PRC, you see both dual-use capacity going from the PRC to Russia that is helping fuel Russia’s war machine, and Russia is reciprocating by providing certain types of technological capabilities to China that they’ve been behind on. 

So this is something that is going to be a feature of the landscape as we go forward, and it means we’re going to have to get better ourselves, and we’re going to have to get more integrated with our allies and partners so that our collective industrial might exceeds that of our competitors and adversaries.  And then we are also going to have to look for ways, through sanctions, export controls, and other restrictive measures, to try to put a drag on or reduce or restrict or disrupt that flow that I just described among these actors. 

But this is a feature of the modern landscape that, in my view, only reinforces the various calls to action that I made in my remarks today.

MR. JONES:  One of the issues that you mentioned in your remarks is on the subject of munition stockpiles.  And if you look at some of the war games that have happened, whether it’s here at CSIS or some of the ones that have happened within the Pentagon, one of the things that’s interesting with current stockpiles is that with, say, some of our long-range anti-ship missiles, LRASMs, or our extended-range JASSMs, we run out pretty quickly in a conflict. 

So, two questions along those lines.  And again, you mentioned this a little bit earlier, but how serious of an issue is this?  How are you thinking about addressing and dealing with addressing it?  And, you know, along the latter lines too, how does this impact deterrence if we’re not effectively able to increase those stockpiles?

MR. SULLIVAN:  This is, I think, a significant learning experience for all of us.  And, by the way, that goes for the U.S., our friends, and our adversaries, out of what we’ve seen unfold in the course of the war against Ukraine. 

First, it means that we need deeper magazine depth now, which means accelerating and ramping production and trying to reduce what are, kind of, eye-poppingly long timelines to generate what you and I might not think are a huge number of these high-end systems, LRASMs or JASSMs or what have you, or PrSM, for that matter, which I referred to in my remarks.  So we’ve got to build the stockpile, build the magazine depth.

Second, and the point I made just a minute ago, we have to have the production lines and the skilled workforce ready for surge capacity so that, in a conflict situation, we’ve got a warm, kind of turn-key ability to dramatically increase production on demand. 

I started my speech by talking about our desire to do that with 155-millimeter artillery production.  On demand was another 400 rounds a month.  I mean, we didn’t have it.  So part of the defense industrial base has to build that.

Third, we have to recognize, as the Ukrainians did, that we’re also going to need substitutes for the highest and most exquisite capabilities, and those substitutes will be cheaper autonomous systems that just come in much greater scale, quantity that can actually be, to a certain extent, a fill-in for delivering effects, battlefield effects that aren’t identical to what an LRASM could deliver, but at sufficient quantity can help sustain the fight even as you’re drawing down your magazine depth. 

Fourth, we have to think not just about the most high-end, most exquisite capabilities.  We also have to think about cheap, attritable stuff; more dumb munitions, frankly, as part of any conflict going forward; and get out of a mindset that says everything has to be the most whiz-bang thing ever. 

And then the final point that I would make is that another key lesson from Ukraine is the EW environment, the electronic warfare environment in which all of this is happening, and the way in which this is a very dynamic, iterative game where defense gets better, then offense adjusts to overwhelm it, then defense gets better. 

And so, the other thing we have to think about across all of the four lines I just described — stockpile, surging, attritable systems, dumb munitions — we have to think about how are we building a feedback loop so that everything we built doesn’t get neutralized, we actually can adapt it to overcome whatever defenses that we happen to be up against.  That has been another critical lesson from Ukraine.

MR. JONES:  Yeah, it was interesting, my last trip a few months ago to Ukraine.  As several folks in Zelenskyy’s office were briefing on the speed with which the battlefield was rapidly evolving on the electronic warfare, the UAV — counter- UAV dimension, just the speed with which things were changing was dramatic, and, you know, the need to be very adaptive in how to respond. 

One of the issues you mentioned in your talk was the submarine industrial base.  We had — a couple of months ago, we had Mike Waltz and Senator Kelly; it was a bipartisan discussion on the maritime industrial base.  And one of the issues that they have highlighted, and others have as well, is more broadly shipbuilding. 

So I want to read you just briefly the bipartisan congressional report, just one sentence from it, sort of the topline conclusions: “Decades of neglect by the U.S. government and private industry had weakened our shipbuilding capacity and maritime workforce, contributing to a declining U.S. flag-shipping fleet to bring American goods to market and support the U.S. military during wartime.” 

There have been other assessments.  The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, unclassified assessment: The Chinese have 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the United States.  That’s one assessment.  That’s not how much they’re producing; that’s a capacity issue. 

So where do we stand on the broader shipbuilding side, not just the submarine base?  And where do we have to go?

MR. SULLIVAN:  Well, first, just diagnosing the problem, a big part of the problem is a skilled workforce issue, where we’ve just lost a skilled workforce in shipbuilding that we need to rebuild, and this administration has put a series of initiatives in place to begin to build that back. 

Second, we have a huge supply chain problem.  Suppliers of the necessary components for ships have disappeared from the United States, and — or there’s one, and we have to rely on that one for any shipbuilding we do, whether it’s a U.S. flag commercial carrier, of which we build very, very few, or it’s a ship that we’re building for a defense requirement. 

And then, third, there are major problems we have in being able to adjust to changes in design over the course of the life of a — you know, of a ship line, and our ability to just, like, have a design, execute it, and churn it out.  This is something the Chinese are very good at.  We have not proven to be very good at this. 

Now, part of this is so fundamental and so structural, and it goes back to the early 1980s when the bottom fell out of the American shipbuilding industry, commercial shipbuilding industry.  That’s not going to reverse overnight.  But there are steps that we can take to push back against unfair practices.  We, the Biden administration, accepted a petition for a 301 investigation of Chinese shipbuilding practices that are putting downward pressure on our ability to compete effectively.

And then part of it is pick spots where you can get wins and build step by step to get back some of that lost ground over the last few decades.  I mentioned very briefly in my remarks something called the ICE Pact, which we entered into with Norway — I’m sorry, with Finland and with Canada.  Finland and Canada are at the cutting edge of polar icebreaker construction and production.  The United States has one producer producing, basically, one cutter for our Coast Guard. 

We have the capacity to do so much more than that on something that, for our allies and partners, the other places they can go are Russia and China; where we really could build this out in concert with Finland and Canada, and, for that specialty capability, reinvigorate an aspect of the American shipbuilding base that then we could take to other specialty areas, and over time build back a larger capability that would have amazing knock-on effects for our capacity to do naval shipbuilding much more rapidly, at much greater scale and at cheaper cost. 

Because anyone who knows, you know, when we contract for a given ship or line of ships, by the third one being turned out, the cost has gone up dramatically for a variety of reasons that get to supply chain, workforce, and other things.  But part of it is we don’t have the backbone of a healthy commercial shipbuilding base to rest our naval shipbuilding on top of.  And that’s part of the fragility of what we’re contending with and why this is going to be such a generational project to fix.

We’ve taken these beginning steps on it, and particularly focused on the submarine industrial base because of the centrality of that to our deterrence.  But it is a larger issue that Secretary Del Toro has been passionate about, Secretary Austin.

I have dug into the details of workforce development initiatives in this area because it’s something that’s so core to our national security over time.

MR. JONES:  So, last question before we get to a few audience questions here.  Role of other allies and partners.  If you look at the shipbuilding industry, both the Koreans and the Japanese have major capabilities.  We’ve got some regulations, we’ve got some congressional acts, including the Jones Act, that make some of that more difficult.  Should we rethink make it easier for us to collaborate with some of our partners?  That’s the first question.

And two is, AUKUS — how do you think about expanding — or do you think about expanding AUKUS to include more than just the UK and Australia in the future?

MR. SULLIVAN:  So, on the first question, I think, you know, I’ll leave it to others to debate the relative merits of some of the, kind of, domestic regulations.

I’ll just make one, I think, really important point, which is: In semiconductors, in clean energy technologies, we’ve developed a suite of industrial policy tools that are stimulating a revolution in the manufacturing capacity of the United States in these critical sectors.  I believe that those same tools, in some cases those same pots of money, could actually attract a Hanwa or another Korean or Japanese shipbuilder to the United States the same way that we’ve attracted a Samsung or an LG to the United — or a Hyundai to the United States.

And so, we should have a theory of stimulating American shipbuilding that is in part about attracting our allies to invest here in building out their capabilities. 

How we then get into the regulatory landscape for what will work and what wouldn’t in the puts and takes of that is harder for me to speak to, but I think the overall theory of the case that we’ve applied in these other critical sectors could be applied to shipbuilding.  There are some green shoots of that in the maritime initiative that Secretary Del Toro has underway.  We really need to build on that because that, ultimately, is going to be an important part of the long-term answer to revitalizing the American shipbuilding industry.

MR. JONES:  Yeah, and I think it is an area where I think we’ve got to close that gap with the Chinese.

So, one question —

MR. SULLIVAN:  Oh, you said AUKUS.  We don’t have any plans to expand pillar one of AUKUS, which is the conventionally armed nuclear-powered subs.

MR. JONES:  Subs.  Yeah.

MR. SULLIVAN:  We do see other partners coming in to work with us on pillar two, which are all these other advanced —

MR. JONES:  I’ve seen the aperture already start to open a bit.  Yeah.

On — questions for the audience.  This has nothing to do with the subject of the discussion here, the industrial base. But first question here from someone in the audience is: “South Korea’s president declared martial law, which he then lifted. What has been the White House response?  It looked a little slow from our vantage point.”  How would you — I mean, what has been your response?  How concerned have you been with the unfolding events in South Korea?

MR. SULLIVAN:  You know, it’s — you know you’re living in a modern information age when an entire episode like this unfolds over the course of less than a day, and the characterization of the White House response is slow.  (Laughs.)

MR. JONES:  Too slow.  Yes.

MR. SULLIVAN:  But it’s a fair question.

I mean, we were not consulted in any way.  We learned about this from the announcement on television the same way the rest of the world did.  It raised deep concern for us, this declaration of martial law.  The National Assembly worked according to constitutional processes and procedures.  The president retracted martial law.  Now there’s, you know, a series of procedures in place to kind of react to what happened there, and they’ll be toing and froing between the main parties in Korea.

What we want to see is just the proper functioning of the democratic institutions of the ROK.  And after this rather dramatic announcement that raised alarm bells everywhere, including here in Washington, we have seen those processes and procedures work.  South Korea’s democracy is robust and resilient, and we’re going to continue to speak out publicly and engage privately with South Korean counterparts to reinforce the importance of that continuing as we go forward.

MR. JONES:  Thanks.

This question is about the industrial base, which — and it’s an interesting one because it deals with critical minerals. “China has banned exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony, which have significant military applications in the industrial base.  How significant are these actions?  And probably more importantly, what are U.S. options to decrease reliance from China on critical minerals?”

MR. SULLIVAN:  The most important thing about this is that it is a continuing reminder of the need of the United States to have diverse and resilient supply chains for critical minerals with national security applications, and not to be reliant on any single country, especially a competitor like the PRC.  We knew that.  We know that.  We are reminded of that when they take steps like this.

Now, we, in particular, anticipated this step because they had already moved to restrict germanium and gallium in the past, before taking the full move this week to say no more exports to the United States.  There are other sources of germanium and gallium in the world.  But as we look at the wider aperture of critical minerals, not just for military purposes, but for strategic purposes — semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy transition technologies, et cetera — we need to get together with likeminded producers, processors, and users of these critical minerals for a high-standards critical mineral marketplace that ensures that China can’t, for example, crash the price of a given critical mineral, drive mines out of business, reduce the overall global supply, and operate as a chokehold.  That’s, ultimately, the logic we need to break.

We’ve taken some really important steps on this in the last few years.  It has allowed us to diversify and make more resilient our supply chains.  But that, too, just like the defense industrial base, is a work in progress, and we need the next administration to continue it, working with the Congress and private industry.  And I will be the biggest cheerleader of that ongoing effort, because it’s something we’ve devoted a lot of attention to over the last four years and something that is going to take, you know, at least the next decade to get ourselves in a position where we can really breathe a sigh of relief. 

We’re there.  We’re doing better.  We have solutions to a lot of these issues, but this is going to be a highly contested space, and there’s a lot more work to be done.

MR. JONES:  Thanks.

And last question.  Can be brief.  From Time Magazine: “Is DOGE friend or foe in an effort to revitalize the defense industrial base?”  I mean, what would you say to an effort to look at the Elon Musk initiative?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I just don’t know.  I mean, I’ve read, but I don’t know what it actually is.  Do we need more government efficiency?  Of course, we can all use more government efficiency.  So at a very macro level, finding ways, as I described in my speech, to modernize, streamline, make more effective procurement and all of the decades-long rules and regulations of the Defense Department.  I laid out a whole list of things in the speech that we should do.  Whether this initiative is about that or about something else, I just don’t know, so it’s hard for me to speak to.

MR. JONES:  Well, thank you. If you can all join me in thanking Jake for coming to CSIS.  (Applause.)  And if you could briefly just stay put as we get out, that’d be great.  Just 30 seconds or so.  Really appreciate everyone taking the time to come.  Thanks.

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Gesso, Italy

Buongiorno!

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for a warmer welcome than I could have imagined.

I’m also grateful to Ms. Prefect Di Stani and to President Schifani for their leadership.

Ambassador Markell, Jack, Carla, thank you for your hospitality and your work to strengthen the special relationship between Italy and the United States.

I know you have an excellent partner in Consul General Roberts-Pounds, Tracy, thank you for your service in Naples.

Dr. Mario Sarica, thank you for researching my family’s history and capturing it in your wonderful book.

My daughter, Ashley, and I just stepped into this beautiful church, where we saw the record of my great-grandmother’s baptism in 1865.

Father Franco Arrigo, thank you for inviting me to visit the church of my great-grandparents.

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden—that its light shines for all to see.

I’m here today because the light from the hills of Gesso shines across the world—and it shines brightly within me.

More than a hundred years ago, my great-grandparents, Gaetano and Conchetta Giacoppa, walked the narrow streets of Gesso. They talked with their neighbors and watched the stars wander out at night.

And in the everyday rhythms of life, they were shaped by Italian values: loyalty, hard work, and the belief that there’s always room for one more seat at the table.

Like many in their generation, strengthened by those values, yet seeking better opportunities, my great-grandparents decided to leave their homeland for the promise of an unfamiliar place, and the idea that no matter where you come from, you can find a home and a future in the United States of America.

As they crossed the Atlantic, they prayed for the protection of St. Anthony, who continues to watch over the people of Gesso.

In America, they quickly found that Hammonton, New Jersey was home to fellow immigrants from Gesso. And other neighbors had come from their own Gessos around the world, bringing the light of those homelands to their new nation too.

Step by step, my great-grandparents built a life. Their last name, “Giacoppa,” became Jacobs.

Their son—my grandpop—grew up and got a job moving furniture.

And his son—my father—joined the United States military at age 17, and then went to school to become a banker.

Within two generations, America was no longer an unfamiliar place. It’s where they dreamed bigger with every decade. 

My great-grandparents said goodbye to Gesso and set sail with hope in their hearts.

But they never could have predicted that within three generations, their great-granddaughter would be back in Gesso, standing before you, as the first Italian American First Lady of the United States.

As First Lady, I’ve brought the vibrant Italian American community together to celebrate our culture and sustain our traditions.

I’ve even had the opportunity to serve gnocchi and braciole in the White House!

And the values of loyalty, hard work, and that spirit of generosity that my great-grandparents brought with them to America still live on today.

I am so grateful to be here in Gesso. And as I look out at this beautiful place, and all of you, I feel the warmth of home. Because of your kindness, because of your joyful welcome, I will always remember and cherish this day.

And if my great-grandparents could see all of us here together, I know they would have been happy, not because I have the title of “First Lady,” but because their descendants stayed true to their roots.

I’m returning to Gesso today with gratitude for my great-grandparents, and you. For the culture we cherish. And for the light that shines in the White House, and wherever there is a son or daughter of Gesso.

May God bless you and keep you.

Grazie.

Now, I’ve brought a gift for all of you. Mr. Mayor, could you please join me?

My home, Delaware, has a state tree—the American Holly. So today, I’m giving Gesso a tree that’s closely related: the European Holly.

I hope this tree will stand for generations to come, as a symbol of the enduring bond between Gesso and her children across the ocean. May our roots remain strong, and may we always grow together.

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Catania, Italy

Thank you, Captain Shoemaker. I’m grateful to you and Lisa for the warm welcome to Sigonella and for your leadership of this base.

And what a beautiful performance from the band!

Ambassador Markell—Jack, Joe could not have asked for a better partner from Delaware to the White House in Italy. It’s so wonderful to be able to spend this special day with you and Carla.

And today is possible because of the work of Consul General Roberts-Pounds.

I’m also grateful to all the Italian officials with us for taking the time to be here.

Thank you all for spending part of your morning with me.

The Bidens are a military family.

As the Captain said, my father was a Navy Signalman in World War II. And our son, Major Beau Biden, served for a year in Iraq as part of the Delaware Army National Guard.

So, 15 years ago, when I took my first overseas trip as Second Lady, I wanted to visit the people who make our freedom possible.

I traveled to meet military families stationed at Bamberg and Schweinfurt over 4th of July weekend.

In the years since, through Joining Forces—my White House initiative to support military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors—I’ve sat with hundreds more servicemembers and their families—to keep listening.

Today, I’m humbled to be with military families here at Sigonella.

We just began the holiday season at the White House. And, I hope to bring some of that warmth across the ocean to all of you—though you seem to have created a pretty incredible display here too.

This year—Sigonella’s 65th anniversary—you’ve shown the world why you’re the “Hub of the Med.”

The 3rd highest Final Evaluation Problem score in history!

Holding 200 community relations events—more than any other base.

The Jaguars winning the European football championship to end a perfect season!

And every day you successfully weave through the Sicilian traffic.

But I know this life isn’t always easy: deployments that seem too long and phone calls that end too soon, PCSing every few years—leaving behind careers, schools, and communities.

That’s why Joe’s Administration is making sure we do everything we can to support military families

Lowering the cost of child care and bringing universal pre-k to bases—including this one!

Making sure military kids with disabilities can transfer their individualized education programs to their new school.

Signing an historic Executive Order to help military spouses keep their careers, and collaborating with the Italian government to let spouses work remotely here—because we have to do everything we can to make sure spouses have employment opportunities no matter where they’re stationed.

You are the brave and the bold.

You’re the spouses who hug twice as hard and cheer twice as loud at football games to fill that empty space beside you, so that other families can celebrate their milestones together.

The military kids who don’t have a hometown, so that other kids can stay in theirs.

You’re the 1% who serves, so the 99% can know freedom.

You stand on the front lines, protecting Americans around the world and ensuring those at home can feel the peace and light of the holidays year after year.

And we have a duty to make sure you can build good lives.

This is my last overseas trip as First Lady.

Just like all those years ago, I knew I wanted to visit military families—to let you know how much all of you mean to me and to your Commander-in-Chief.

It’s been the honor of this military mom and grandmom’s life to serve as your First Lady—and work to fulfill our sacred obligation to you.

With all my heart, thank you for your service.

May God bless you and your families.

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Presidential Palace
Luanda, Angola

1:00 P.M. WAT

PRESIDENT LOURENÇO:  (As interpreted.)  (In progress) diplomatic relations since 19th of May, 1993, which have been growing year after year, mainly since in Angola we started the process of fight against corruption and impunity, and we establishing the best business environment.

The Angola president José Eduardo dos Santos was received in the White House in September 1991 and December 1995 by then-Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton respectively.

I thank the fact that President Joe Biden has received me in a very friendly and warm manner in White House on the 30th November, 2023. 

The two countries have been exchanging ministerial and business delegation visits where we have to highlight the visits by the minister of national defense of Angola and the chief of staff of the Angolan Armed Forces to Washington, D.C., and the visits by various U.S. secretary of state to Rwanda and, more recently, for the first time, the U.S. Defense secretary and the director general of CIA to Luanda.

On holding these state visits to Angola on the eves of Angola celebrating 50 years of its national independence, this will be marked in the history of the two countries as the first visit by a U.S. president touching the Angolan soil.

This does not only put an end to the past of our relations whereby within the Cold War we had never been aligned, but also it marks an important turning point in our relations, which undoubtedly will know a new dynamics as from today.

We want to work together attracting U.S. direct full investment to Angola, opening business and (inaudible) opportunity for Angolan businessmen to the U.S. market.

We also would like to increase our cooperation in defense and security sectors, in access to military schools and academies, the military training in Angola, and hold more joint military exercises to cooperate more in programs of maritime security in order to protect the Gulf of Guinea and South Atlantic, as well as in the program of equipment and modernization of the Angola Armed Forces.

Important projects of public investment are ongoing with U.S. EXIM bank funding, City Capital, and the International Development Financial Cooperation — DFC — with U.S. companies such as Sun Afrique, Africell, Mayfair Energy, (inaudible), GatesAir, amongst others, without talking about the oil companies, Chevron and Esso, who are based in Angola for various decades, as well as numerous U.S. service companies in the oil sector.

With company (inaudible), we are working in building cereal silos and the logistic platforms and parks along the Lobito Corridor and other points that considered as main grain production places in the framework of food security.

In the health sector, with USAID, Gavi, and Global Fund, we’ve been benefitting a lot in the programs of fight against malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS, COVID-19, as well as in the program of robotic surgery that is starting to become a reality in Angola, in partnership with the well-known hospital from Orlando, Florida, in the U.S.

We would like to see U.S. investors engaged in construction of power transmission lines, in high-voltage under public-private partnerships for southern African countries, namely for the region of Copperbelt in Zambia and DRC, as well as for Namibia, connecting to the southern countries’ power grid.

Our AngoSat 2 project is working with NASA and Maxar in acquisition of high-resolution satellite images for monitoring natural disasters, namely in the implementation of our national program of fight against the effects of droughts in the southern part of Angola, PCESSA.

The country is in the process of purchasing six aircraft, Boeing 787 Dreamliners, whose delivery will take place early next year, 2025.

We’re also working with U.S. company Wicks Groups Consulting for Angola accession to Category 1 of Aviation Federal Administration, which could be facilitated by the full functioning of the international airport Antonio Agostinho Neto.

We highlight the fact that in June 2025, Luanda will host the U.S.-Africa Business Summit that will bring closer politicians, entrepreneurs, scholars, and civil society from the U.S. and Africa to talk about businesses, history, culture, and various cross-interests.

Mr. President, your vision and engagement for the success of the Lobito Corridor, as well as your great contribution to our energy transition program in the construction of solar products in the southern part of Angola will always be remembered as a great contribution to food and energy security, as well as towards economic and social development of Angola and the whole southern African region.

Once again, thank you very much, you’re (inaudible) welcome to Angola, and the Angolan people feel themselves very happy and proud of having you here in the city of Luanda. 

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Mr. President, thank you very much.  It’s good to see you again and thank you for having me here today.  I mean that sincerely.

I joked with you earlier when I said, “We Bidens are like poor relatives.  We show up when we’re invited, stay longer than we should, eat all your food, and don’t know when to go home.”  But you’ve been very, very generous and hospitable.  Thank you.

I’m proud — (clears throat) — excuse me — very proud to be the first American president to visit Angola.  And I’m deeply proud of everything we have done together to transform our partnership thus far.  And there’s so much ahead of us, so much we can do.

The results so far speak for themselves: building an ocean access railway — ocean-to-ocean access railway that’s going to connect the continent from west to east for the first time in history.

Investing in solar energy projects.  It’s going to help Angolans generate 75 percent of its clean energy by next year — by next year.

Upgrading Internet and communications infrastructure to connect all of Angola to high-speed Internet networks.  As we’re doing that at home ourselves, I compare it to when Franklin Roosevelt took electricity to rural America.  It didn’t exist in rural America.  The government provided it.

Well, it’s hard to get by these days in business or in ranching or anything else without access to the Internet — knowing what’s going on, when to sell your product and the like. It’s critical.

And — (clears throat) — excuse me — and increasing our agriculture production so Angolans can feed themselves and, quite frankly, the rest of the world and making a profit doing it — providing work, providing opportunities, providing muscle to your economy.

And increased agriculture production so Angolans, as I said, can not only feed themselves but — it’s hard for people in a country that only has the borders of the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean to understand that it’s hard to get a product from one country to another that are badly in need of agricultural products but you can’t get there.  To get there, you not only help those people but you help yourself and you grow your economy.

And you’ve heard me say it before, Mr. President.  The United States is all in on Africa.  All in on Africa.  And I think a testament to that assertion I’ve made to you when I saw you and I’ve made publicly before — you’ve heard me say it before, but the United States is all in — all in on Angola.  We’ve already, in — my administration alone has invested over $3 billion in Angola thus far.  The future of the world is here in Africa and Angola.

So, during this visit, I look forward to discussing how we keep ensuring democracy delivers for people — because if they don’t think it’s a democracy and they don’t think they’re in on a deal, they don’t think they’re part of it.  And you’ve been working very hard to establish good democracy.

And — and secondly, how can we help build the strong ties between our nations and our businesses and our people?  There’s a lot to say on all of this, I know.  We’re prepared to — I think we’re well on our way to answering a lot of the questions, but I think you should understand the extent to which we’re prepared to be engaged.

And as I said to — to the president, ours is not — we don’t think because we’re bigger and we’re more powerful that we’re smarter.  We don’t think we have all the answers.  But we’re prepared to hear your answers to the needs you have, particularly answers to international debt financing and a whole range of other things we’re prepared to discuss.

So, I want to thank you very much for your personal welcome.  I want to thank all of your colleagues for treating us so well since we’ve been here.  And I mean it from the bottom of my heart. 

The future of the world is in Africa.  That’s not hyperbole.  It’s going to be a billion people very shortly in this continent — a very diverse continent.  And by — in another 20 years, you’re going to be the largest country in the world — continent in the world.  And so, you’re — we need you to succeed.  This isn’t all selfless.  The more you succeed, the more we succeed, the more the world succeeds.

So, thank you for being willing to have me, be willing to talk to me, and I look forward to a long relationship.

Thank you very much.

(Cross-talk.)

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Welcome to America.

1:13 P.M. WAT

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National Museum of Slavery
Belas, Angola

5:54 P.M. WAT

THE PRESIDENT:  You are a brave crowd to come out in the rain.  I brought my hat just in case.  I don’t have much hair to help me.  (Laughter.)

Leaders of Angola, government and civil society, students, young leaders, staff of the National Slavery Museum, distinguished guests, I sincerely mean this when I say thank you for being here in the rain with us today.  Thank you for allowing me to be here.  It’s an honor — a genuine honor to be with you today in Angola. 

I just got off the phone with the vice president, telling her I’m sorry she’s not with me to be here today, you know, with you in Angola, the — a vibrant city.  And — and I — look, not the city.  The city, I know, is not Angola, but in Angola in a vibrant city.

And I’m joined by members of the United States Congress, senior officials of my administration, and American business and civic leaders.  We think that it’s important that we get together.  We thank all people of Angola for your warm hospitality, and I mean that s- — please sit down if you have a seat.  Don’t — I’m sorry.  (Laughter.)  I wasn’t sure you all had seats. 

We are gathered at a someln — a solemn location.  Because to fully consider how far our two countries have come in our friendship, we have to remember how we began. 

We hear them in the wind and the waves.  Young women, young men born free in the highlands of Angola, only to be captured, bound, and forced on a “death march” along this very coast to this spot by slave traders in the year 1619. 

In the building next to us, they were baptized into a foreign faith against their will, their names changed against their will to Anthony and Isabella.  Then they were condemned to a slave ship bound for the Middle Passage, packed together in hundreds by hundreds.  A third of those souls did not survive the journey.  One third died on the way.

But Anthony and Isabella made it to the British colony in Virginia, where they were sold into servitude and became two of the first enslaved Americans in a place that, 150 years later, would become the United States of America.  They had a son, considered the first child of African descent born in America: William Tucker.

It was the beginning of slavery in the United States.  Cruel.  Brutal.  Dehumanizing.  Our nation’s original sin — original sin — one that haunted America and casts a long shadow ever since. 

From the bloody Civil War that nearly tore my nation apart to the long battle with Jim Crow in the ni- — to — into the 1960s for the civil rights and voting rights movement — which got me involved in public life — during which American cities were burned, to the still unfinished reckoning with racial injustice in my country today. 

Historians believe people of Angola accounted for a significant number of all enslaved people shipped to America.  Today, millions of African Americans have roots in Angola. 

As I said at the U.S.-African Leaders Summit that held in Washington two years — I held in Washington two years ago, “Our people lie at the heart of the deep and profound connection that forever binds Africa and the United States together.  We remember the stolen men and women and children who were brought to our shores in chains, subjected to unimaginable cruelty.” 

Here with us today are three Americans who are direct descendants of Anthony and Isabella, those first enslaved Americans — Afri- — Africans in America.  Wanda Tucker of Hamilton [Hampton], Virginia. Wanda, are you there?  There you are, Wanda.  God love you.  (Applause.)  Her brother Vincent and Carolita as well.  Thank you for being here.  We’re going to write history, not erase history.

The Tuckers learned their family history around the dinner table.  That history led Wanda here in Angola a few years ago.  She did not know how to speak the language, but that didn’t matter.  When she arrived, Wanda said she felt something profound, like she’d come home.  That was her comment to me.  She called it the “connection without words.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here today to honor that connection between our people and to pay tribute to the generations of Angolans and American families, like the Tuckers, who have served in government for over — I’ve served in government for over 50 years.  I know I only look like I’m 40 years old, but I’ve been around hanging in the government for — (laughter) — I hate to admit it — for 50 years.

But in that 50 years, I’ve learned a lot.  Perhaps most importantly, I have learned that while history can be hidden, it cannot and should not be erased.  It should be faced.  It’s our duty to face our history: the good, the bad, and the ugly — the whole truth.  That’s what great nations do. 

That’s why I chose to speak here at the National Slavery Museum today, just as I toured.  And that’s why your president visited the National Museum of African American Culture in the — in Washington, D.C. — the second most-visited museum in the States — and he did it a few years ago.

He saw what I see: the stark contradiction between my country’s founding principles of liberty, justice, and equality and the way we long treated people from Angola and from throughout Africa.

I’ve often said America is the only nation in the world founded on an idea.  Most countries are founded based on race, ethnicity, religion, geography, or some other attribute.  But in the United States, founded on idea, one embedded in our Declaration of Independence, and that is that all men and women are created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout their lives. 

It’s abundantly clear today we have not lived up to that idea, but we’ve never fully walked away from it either.  And that’s due in no small part to the determination and dreams of African Americans, including Angolan Americans. 

The proud descendants of the diaspora who helped build my nation as they rebuilt their own families and their own sense of self.  They were the forebearers as well — resilient, faithful, even hopeful — hopeful that joy would cometh in the morning, as it says in the Bible; hopeful that our past would not be the story of our future; and hopeful, in time, the United States would write a different story in partnership with the people brought here in chains to my nation from Africa.  It’s a story of mutual respect and mutual progress. 

That’s the history that brings me here, the first American president ever to visit Angola.  Over time — (applause) — and I’m proud to be.  Over time, the relationship beca- — between our countries has been transformed from distance to genuine warmth.  Today, our relationship is the strongest it’s ever been. 

Throughout my presidency, it’s been my goal — goal of the United States to build a strong partnership with peoples and nations across the continent of Africa — true partnerships aimed at achieving shared goals, bringing to bear the dynamism of America’s private sector and the expertise of our government to support aspirations of African entrepreneurs, experts, leaders both inside and outside of government.

Because we know the challenge that define our age demand African leadership.  One out of every four human beings on Earth will live in Africa by the year 2050.  And the ingenuity and determination of young Africans in particular, like the young society leaders I just met with here today, will be undeniable forces in that human progress. 

That’s why I’m so optimistic, because of that generation.  In no small part, it will be in their hands and the hands of people across Africa to expand access to clean energy, to tackle threats of global health, to grow global — a global middle class. 

In many ways, Africa’s — Africa’s success is and will be the world’s success.  As I said at the United States — U.S.-Africa Summit: The United States is all in on Africa’s future. 

Two years ago, I pledged to deliver $55 million [billion] in new investments in Africa and to mobilize American businesses to close new deals with African partners. Two years ago, we are out way ahead of schedule.  More than 20 heads of U.S. government agencies and members of my Cabinet have traveled to Africa, delivering over $40 billion in investments thus far. 

And we have announced nearly 1,200 new business deals between African and American companies — and American companies — total will be worth $52 billion, including investments in solar energy, telecom, mobile finance, infrastructure, and partnerships with American airlines to expand opportunities for tourism so you don’t have to fly to Paris to get here — although Paris is pretty nice.  (Laughter.)

Here in Angola alone, the United States has invested $3 billion during my short presidency.  We see the bonds between our countries across sectors, from clean energy to health care to sports.  The American Basketball Associat- — National Basketball Association launched Basketball Africa League and Angola is the reigning champion.  (Applause.)

And we see the impact of American culture across — African culture across the American culture, from music to entertainment to fashion to arts and so much more. 

Student exchanges between our countries are essential and must increase.  Students in both countries can be — better understand one another if they know the country, if they visit the country, if they’re educated in the other country.  An increased connection between us makes a big difference.

Being all in on Africa means making sure African voices are heard at the tables that matter most.  Under my leadership, the United States brought — we brought in the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 economies, and we insisted on more African representation among the leaders of the International Monetary Fund and other world financial institutions. 

We’ve also pushed to ensure that developing nations do not — do not choose — have to choose between paying down unsustainable debt and being able to invest in their own people.  And we’re using our voi- — our own voice to increase Africa’s presence on the U.N. Security Council at the United Nations.  That should happen.  You can clap for that, folks.  You should be in there.  (Applause.)  

The United States continues to be the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid and development assistance.  And that’s going to increase.  You know, that’s the right thing for the wealthiest nation in the world to do. 

And today, I’m announcing over $1 billion in new humanitarian support for Africans displaced from homes by historic droughts and food insecurity.  (Applause.)

But we know African leaders and citizens are seeking more than just aid.  You seek investment.  And so, the United States is expanding our relationship all across Africa — from assistance to aid to investment to trade — moving from patrons to partners to help bridge the infrastructure gap. 

I was told, by the way, when I got elected I could never get an infrastructure bill passed because the last guy spent eight years saying, “Next month” — four years saying, “Next month.”

Well, guess what, folks?  We’ve done it.  (Applause.)  A trillion — a trillion three hundred billion dollars for infrastructure to narrow the digital divide, drive inclusive, sustainable economic growth.

We’re looking for partners who understand that the right question in the year 2024 is not “What can the United States do for the people of Africa?”  It’s “What can we do together for the people of Africa?”  (Applause.)  That’s what we’re going to do.

Nowhere in Africa is the answer more exciting than here in Angola.  It starts with our governments, whose partnership is stronger, deeper, and more effective and active than any point in history.  It’s testament to your president, who had the vision to carry out this relationship — carry this relationship forward.  And it’s a testament to Angolan citizens across the private sector and civil society who have forged strong bonds with your American counterparts. 

And together, we’re engaged in a major joint project to close the infrastructure gap for the benefit of Angolans, Africans across the continent, Americans, and the world.  We’ll all benefit, as you benefit.  You’re — you can produce much more agriculture, for example, than states that can’t.  You’re going to increase their longevity, and you’re going to increase your impact and profit. 

It’s called the Lobito Corridor.  We’re building railroad lines from Angola to the Port of Lobito, in Zambia and the DRC, and, ultimately, all the way to the Atlantic — from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.  It’ll be the first trans-continental railroad in Africa and the biggest American rail investment outside of America.

And I must tell you up front, with American press here, I’m probably the most pro-rail guy in America.  (Laughter.)  I’ve ri- — I’ve ridden over 1,300,000 miles on a daily basis to my work, 210 — -20 miles a day for the last 50 years. 

Well, I didn’t do it as president.  I stayed in the White House a lot. 

But all kidding aside, folks, we can do this.  We can do this.  It’s in our power. 

It will not only generate significant employment, it will also allow individual countries to maximize their own domestic resources for the benefit of their people and sell critical minerals that power the world’s energy transformation and our fight against climate change and to transport them in a fraction of the time and lower cost.  A shipment that used to take over 45 days will now take 45 hours.  That’s a game changer.  That increases profit.  That increases opportunity.

The Lobito Corridor represents the right way to invest in full partnership with a country and its people. 

As part of this project, we will install enough clean energy power to power hundreds of thousands of homes, expand high-speed Internet across — for millions of Angolans, which is a cos- — as consequential today as electricity was two generations ago. 

And we’re investing in agriculture and food security, fulfilling the needs of countries without agricultural capacity and expanding opportunities for countries growing the crops; connecting farmers across the Lobito — along the Lobito Corridor to new markets, expanding opportunity and prosperity — you doing that, having the means to do it. 

The United States understands how we invest in Africa is as important as how much we invest.  In too many places, 10 years after the so-called investment was made, workers are still coming home on a dirt road and without electricity, a village without a school, a city without a hospital, or a country under crushing debt. 

We seek a better way: transparent, high-standard, open-access investments that protect workers and the rule of law and the environment.  It can be done and will be done.  (Applause.)

And, folks, the partnership between Angola and the United States also extends to supporting peace and security in this region and beyond. 

Pl- — Pr- — President Lourenço, I want to thank him for his leadership and mediation in regional conflicts.  I also want to thank him for Angola speaking out against Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.  It matters.  It matters when leaders speak out.  (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, I am in the final weeks of my presidency.  You don’t have to clap for that.  (Laughter.)  You can if you want. 

But I wanted to come to Angola.  Although I’ve been chairman of the Africa America subcommittee for a long time, I had never made it to Angola.  Because although I don’t know exactly what the future will hold, I know the future runs through Angola, through Africa.  I mean it sincerely.  (Applause.)  I’m not kidding.

I know that any nation that wants to thrive in the next century must work as partners with workers, entrepreneurs, and businesses here in Africa.  I know that the connection between our communities, our universities, our sports, our civil societies, our families, our people will only grow deeper.  We have to stay focused.

The story of Angola and the United States holds a lesson for the world: two nations with a shared history in evil of human bondage; two nations on opposite sides of the Cold War, defining struggle in the late part of the 20th century; and now, two nations standing shoulder to shoulder, working together every day for the mutual benefit of our people. 

It’s a reminder that no nation need be permanently a — the adversary of another, a testament to the human capacity for reconciliation, and proof that from every — from the horrors of slavery and war, there is a way forward. 

So, I stand here today — I mean this sincerely — deeply optimistic.

When I — by the way, 20 years ago, when I was a senator, I had a cranial aneurysm.  They s- — got me to the hospital in time.  I remember asking the doctor, “What are my ch-” — he said, “Oh, your chances are good.  They’re about 30 percent.”  (Laughter.)  (Inaudible.)  When it was all over, he was deciding whether or not it was congenital or environmental.  And I said, “I don’t give a damn.  I’m here.”  He said, “You know what your problem is, Senator?  You’re a congenital optimist.”  (Laughter and applause.)  I am.

About the possibilities and progress that lie just beyond the horizon.  Together, we can and will chart a futuche worther [future worthy] of great nations, worthy of the highest aspirations of our people. We just have to remember who we are: We’re Angolans; we’re Americans.   

As I often say in Ameri- — to the American people: There’s nothing — nothing beyond our capacity if we work together.  And today, I say to the people of Angola and all the people of Africa, there is nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. 

Thank you.  And God bless you and keep you all safe.  (Applause.)  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  And thank you for waiting. 

And I got my hat.  Thanks, everybody.  I really mean it.  You’re very patient.

Q    Mr. President, anything on South Korea and martial law?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m just getting briefed on it.  I’m just getting briefed.  I haven’t heard the details.

6:13 P.M. WAT

The post Remarks by President Biden Honoring the Past and Future of the Angolan-U.S. Relationship | Belas, Angola appeared first on The White House.

Luanda, Angola

MODERATOR:  All right, well, thanks, everyone.  So, we’re going to do this gaggle on background, attributable to a senior administration official.

For your awareness, but not for your reporting, this is [senior administration official].  And by all means, feel free to share this audio with the pool. 

[Senior administration official] will share a few words at the top on how the bilat went and answer questions. 

Q    Any embargo?

MODERATOR:  No embargo.

All right, over to you. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Okay, great, yeah.  So it was a really warm and substantive conversation that President Lourenço and President Biden had, along with their teams.  On both sides, it was a really substantive delegation and substantive set of points. 

So, I’ll just say on the U.S. side, as you all may know, in addition to President Biden and the national security team, we also had the head of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency; the Millennium Challenge Corporation; the DFC, Development Finance Corporation — which kind of shows you how deep this partnership with Angola has become. 

And the partnership with Angola was basically the theme.  President Biden started off talking about how this is a really transformed partnership over the last certainly centuries, but particularly the last three years.  So when you think about — this is a relationship that began in slavery, which President Biden has called the original sin of the United States; then went through the Cold War, when we were mostly on opposing sides.  But then, since President Lourenço took office, and since President Biden took office four years ago, it has really become a deep partnership and a really warm one.  So, President Biden and President Lourenço both reflected a lot on how far we’ve come on that.

Then, I would say the core of the conversation was on how that partnership is being manifested in the Lobito Corridor.  The Lobito Corridor, as you probably know by now, is a massive and really ambitious investment that the United States is partnering with other both external stakeholders as well as regional countries on.  We’ve invested upwards of $3 billion in it thus far.  More to come. 

But the important thing — and this is something that President Biden talked about — is it is not just about infrastructure, it is about people, were his exact words.  And it’s about people, it’s about the communities that it will touch.  It’s about investing in a responsible and sustainable way, ensuring there’s inclusive economic growth, including that there is contracting that is transparent and not corrupt. 

So, President Biden talked a lot about what he sees.  He loves trains, and he did say, “I’m a train guy, and I love trains,” but he did talk about how that works in the favor of people and communities as well.

As you likely know by now, President Biden and President Lourenço will have a chance to go see the Lobito Corridor in person tomorrow, probably along with many of you.  They will also be co-hosting regional leaders, so the leaders of Zambia, DRC, and Tanzania.  It’ll be the vice president of Tanzania and the president of the other two.  So it was sort of a preview of the conversation tomorrow where the presidents will be able to sort of see what’s been in action, lift up what the G7 has done in support of Lobito, and how it reflects the AU’s vision as well.  So that was huge area of focus. 

Other issues they discussed included global issues such as democracy — how democracy takes constant work; democracy is always fragile is something President Biden said. 

They talked a lot about regional issues.  President Lourenço has taken a really helpful leadership role in mediating the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  President Biden thanked him for that work.  They talked about the way forward on that, but President Lourenço shared his perspective. 

We talked about President Lourenço’s forthcoming chairmanship of the AU, which will start next year, and his helpful role in that regard.

Touched upon other regional and global issues, and then sort of finished off with just a reflection again of how far the partnership has come. 

So, happy to take any questions. 

Q    All right, first of all, can you share with us any details of this meeting that the President had with the descendant of one of the original slaves?  Or however you word that.

And then, Angola’s UNITA Party said today that the President missed a, quote, “great opportunity” to learn more about civil society, to interface with civil society and talk about human rights issues.  What’s your response to that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah, so on the descendant of slavery you mentioned, so this is the Tucker family.  So Wanda Tucker and then two of her other family members are here as well.  And these are descendants of the original shipment of slaves who came over, I think around 1619.  They will be at the President’s remarks later this afternoon as well. 

The President met with Wanda, at least last night — I’m not sure if the other two or not — and he obviously takes this story very personally in terms of the personal manifestation of it. 

But, yeah, the William Tucker Society has been a really important voice on sort of telling that story of the relationship.

On civil society: So, the President’s delegation has already met with civil society and youth leaders.  We also know civil society is not monolithic, so getting lots of voices.  The President will meet with other representatives from civil society.  So this is — you know, democracy and governance issues came up and are certainly something that I’d say our President did not miss an opportunity to talk about.

MODERATOR:  Trevor?

Q    Two, kind of, related ones.  I thought it was kind of interesting that Lourenço, in his opening remarks, brought up security and cooperation.  Directionally, where is that headed?  Is that headed towards a deeper, you know, alliance, partnership?  Where is that headed?

And then, you mentioned other regional issues and global issues.  Did China come up at all?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  China didn’t come up.

On security cooperation: Yeah, this is a really exciting, I’d say burgeoning area of cooperation that’s particularly picked up steam over the last couple of years.  Secretary Austin was here about a year ago, I believe sometime in 2023.  There have been other visits on this.  And just in the last few weeks, we have initiated the State Partnership Program, which we’re looking forward to deepening with the Angolans.

So, I do think this is an area of burgeoning cooperation, I would say.  It’s obviously a relatively new area.

Q    And then, did — sorry — did Russia come up at all?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  No.

Q    Thanks so much for doing this.  During —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Oh, I’m so sorry, let me correct myself.  Russia came up briefly in the sense that there’s a concern of, with the war in Ukraine, there may be arms that will end up in the African continent, and that represents, you know, a risk security wise.

The President also did thank President Lourenço for his principled stand on Ukraine. 

Q    Thanks for doing this.  Did Biden bring up any new investments that could be going to the Lobito Corridor in terms of just new funding?  Or did that come up?  I know there’s been talk that there would be some deliverables, but was that mentioned at all during the meeting?  Or —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  The President’s remarks on Lobito were much more, sort of, the principle behind it, what we’re trying to demonstrate by Lobito.  But there are some investments and announcements that are coming out.  I’m not sure if they’re out yet, so I’ll defer you to [senior administration official], who I think is speaking with you all later on Lobito.

Q    Okay.  And then, just one more.  President Lourenço brought up — during his remarks, he touched on, you know, how he would like to see more engagement from U.S. investors.  Was there any more conversation around, you know, like U.S. companies coming to Angola and Africa more broadly?  What, kind of, was touched on there, if anything?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah.  Absolutely.  This is part of, I think, what the President has pushed forward on Lobito.  And more broadly, under President Biden in general, there’s been a record number of Cabinet officials who have come to Africa, who often bring with them, sort of, the commercial diplomacy aspect as well. 

Tomorrow, at the Lobito Corridor Summit, there will be companies there who will be speaking about their investment.  So this is definitely, I would say, front and center of how they’re thinking about it. 

Q    Just one more.  Sorry.  Did President-elect Trump come up during the meeting?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  No.  President Lourenço didn’t raise it.  Obviously, all these conversations we have are in the context of there is a transition coming.  Fortunately, Africa policy has long been bipartisan.  So, while we obviously can’t predict what the new team will do, we’ve seen a lot of support for investment projects from the other side.  And we’ve heard good support from both sides of the aisle in terms of supporting Angola’s leadership on eastern DRC. 

So that would — I would say it was the only way it was even tangentially talked about.

Q    The media was asking questions about the pardon, and then Biden didn’t answer them, but he made a joke about “and welcome to America.”  Just wondering, (inaudible) —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  It didn’t come up.  Actually, it didn’t.

Q    They didn’t —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  There was mention, no.

Q    I figured that was the case.

Q    I was wondering whether you could elaborate a bit on this, on what you just said about Russia and how it could lead to more, like, arms coming into Africa.  And where exactly — have you seen proof of it already?  You know, that kind of thing. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  It was actually a pretty brief comment in the context of overall the security environment.  So it wasn’t — I actually can’t elaborate because that was as far as it went.

Q    And on the DRC, like, anything more you can share?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah.  Yeah, yeah. 

So, on the DRC — so you’re likely tracking President Lourenço has led the Luanda Process, which we really commend him for.  That’s been a partnership with Avril Haines, our Director of National Intelligence.  President Lourenço, you know, continues to play a pretty strong role.  The op tempo of those meetings has increased.  We had two ministerials in the last 10 days on that.  There’s been a head of state level meeting announced now for mid-December, so there’s some discussion of that. 

Overall, you know, what President Biden conveyed on that was, first, like, “Thank you, President Lourenço,” and then, second, that he has — President Biden has heard bipartisan support for the mediation efforts.  And, you know, the conflict in eastern DRC benefits no one.  Potential investors, the human cost.  So, President Biden basically expressed that he hopes that the partnership on mediating that will continue.

Q    Is the investment, like, in the Lobito Corridor or any of the other public health or energy investments, are any of those contingent on the next administration continuing to disburse the money, or is the money already there?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I defer you to the Lobito Corridor gurus because I don’t want to give you bad —

MODERATOR:  Yeah, I think we’re trying to work a briefing for [senior administration official] later today, maybe after the speech, just to preview Lobito and everything.

Q    Okay.  But just in terms of how Trump only adjacently came up, like not directly came up, because of the context of the transition — was that because there was any concern about whether this work would continue or (inaudible)?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I mean, I think it’s just we don’t want to speak for the next administration.  We don’t know what choices they’ll make.  But I’ll say, you know, there’s a lot of private sector energy already.  There’s a lot of other stakeholders.  This isn’t a U.S.-exclusively endeavor.  It’s a G7 endeavor, Africa Finance Corporation, AFDB — development bank.  So there’s a lot of other players as well, but I think we’ll hear more tomorrow on that.

MODERATOR:  Thank you all.  Hope this was helpful.

The post Background Press Gaggle on President Biden’s Meeting with President Lourenço of Angola appeared first on The White House.

East Room

12:54 P.M. EST

THE FIRST LADY:  Hello.  How are you?  (Applause.)  (Laughs.)  Hi.  Well, gosh.

In the swirl of the end of each year, we hope to begin to turn toward our hope for tomorrow.

So, as we celebrate our finally — final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values that we hold sacred: faith, family, and service to our country, kindness toward all of our neighbors, and the power of community. 

So, that’s what inspired this holiday theme, what I think of this time of year: “A Season of Peace and Light.”

We begin with light from the stunning, rotating star above the East entrance, as when you all came in.  And walking in, we’re embraced by the sparkling spirit of the season, as light-filled greenery led us to the first Christmas tree display, dedicated to our Gold Star Families.  (Applause.)

And this year’s Gold Star Tree exhibit is constructed of six large stars — I think you all saw them by now, right? — representing each branch of our military.  I thought it was just beautiful walking in and seeing the gold and leading to that tree.  You know, the names of fallen service members are written on the gold star ornaments on the accompanying Christmas trees. 

And the display honors the heroic men and women of our country, of our nation’s military who have laid down their lives for our country, those who are missing in action, and the families who carry on their legacies. 

So, may God bless our troops and their families.  (Applause.)

Then chiming bells call us to the East Colonnade, where bells of all sizes float above us and line every archway, filling the air with the sounds of the season. 

In the East Garden Room, a horse-drawn sleigh pulls us into the historic mansion.  It was really cute, wasn’t it?  (Laughter.)  And there, we enter another hall of light as lush garlands of green envelope us in the tranquility of nature.

In the Library, a twirling forest of vintage ceramic trees shines with the color of the holidays.  And walking in, I was taken back to my childhood, because when the — (laughs) — when that tree first came out — so you know it’s an antique — (laughter) — we knew Christmas had become — had begun. 

So, across the hall, in the Vermeil Room, we enjoy trees of stacked bows and vibrant silk flowers.

And artisanal breads spill out of the China Room, and we can almost smell their warm aroma filling the air with memories.

Earlier this year, I opened the Diplomatic [Reception] Room — it was the first time o- — to be on the tour, so — the expanded White House tour.  So, I hope you saw — those of you who were here other years, I hope you saw the difference.  You know, I tried to make the tour come alive.  It was important to me, as an educator.

So, this holiday season, for the first time, guests will be able to enjoy that space, and it features the White House Historical Association ornament honoring President Carter.  God bless him.  (Applause.)

Now, look above us.  Here in the East Room, a reflective canopy wraps us in a peaceful snowfall.

In the Green Room, a rainbow of glass ornaments fills the room with a burst of color and light.

And just outside the Green Room, we find the Official White House Menorah, made during Joe’s first year in the White House fo- — the carpentry shop made that themselves.  Make sure that you see it.  It’s truly beautiful.  And, you know, it came from wood on the — from the White House grounds in the renovation of this house 70 years ago.  That’s pretty incredible.

So, in the Blue Room — (laughs) — you know, you can’t help but smile when you see that tree.  (Laughter.)  And as the animals move up and down and — you know, and we see the holiday candy treats lining the tree, don’t you feel like you’re a kid again?  And sitting on a carousel, you know, is that world of light just spinning around us.

So, the White House Chris- — official Christmas tree also features the name of every state and territory and the District of Columbia as you look around the top of it.  And each year, I love watching all the visitors — and you’ll probably see it yourselves when you walk in there — looking for your home state and, you know, seeing your faces light up as you find, like, “Hey, there’s Delaware” or Pennsylvania, New Jersey.

In the Red Room, glowing gifts from under the Christmas tree lift — light the messages of peace above.

And for the State Dining Room, we invited military families from the USS Delaware and the Gab- — USS Gabrielle Giffords, the two Navy vessels that I have the honor of sponsoring, to create some paper garlands hanging throughout the room.  I thought they looked so beautiful.

And adorning the sparkling Christmas trees beside them are self-portraits by students from across the country.  (Applause.)  And I know that some of the teachers — some of their teachers are here and they helped decorate the tree.  So, how many of you are teachers?  (Applause.)  How many of you are teachers?  Lots of teachers.  I love that.  Because teachers always get stuff done.  (Applause.)  (Laughs.)

So, the trees are amazing.

Of course, the room also features this year’s incredible gingerbread house.  I love that.  (Applause.)  Didn’t you see it light up?  I mean, it was just so beautiful.  And did you see the ice-skating rink right in front of it?

And Susie and Carlo did — you know, you did such an amazing job.  So, thank you for creating that.  (Applause.)

And this year’s display captures the light of our theme, from the glowing windows to the bright star on top of the house — of the gingerbread house.

And in the Cross Hall behind me, spectacular flocks of hand-cut peace doves fly across the sky.  (Applause.)  I mean, it th- — really, how — how beautiful is that?

And finally, don’t miss that teddy bear driving the vintage red truck.  (Laughter.)

Now, to you, the people who brought this vision to life, our volunteers: This — (applause) — yes, all of you — this would not be possible without your work.  It’s been incredible to watch all of you transform this space year after year.

And you traded time with families for hours gluing, you know, with hot — hot glue guns and — you know, and Thanksgiving wris- — leftovers for tired wrists from wiring ornaments to the trees, because, you know, you can’t just hang it; it has to be, you know, hung perfectly.  (Laughter.)  I know, some of you are perfectionists.  That’s okay.  (Laughter.)

And some of — and you have to wrap them around and around the branch so the ornaments stay on, because you know thousands of kids are coming through here and they’re going to try to pull them off, so you have to make sure that they’re secure.  They always try too.  I mean, you know — 

But it’s during those long afternoons when your hands are sore from cutting the ribbons just so, from hanging the greenery, that’s when these lifelong friendships are made.  And that’s when the magic happens.

So, I’m already hearing about the text chains you’re creating to keep in touch.  (Laughs.)  I wish you could add my name to those.  (Laughter.)  

So, thank you for everything that you’ve done.

To Bryan Rafanelli, who’s back there in the corner — Bryan — (applause) — love you — and his team, I’m so grateful for your vision and leadership.  And to all the incredible decorators who were here, like Glitterville, BMF, Silver Lining, Cheree Berry Paper & Design, Frost Chicago, thank you for dedicating your time and talents to this design.

I’m also grateful to the National Confectioners Association for their partnership and unyielding support.  (Applause.)  Thank — so, let’s thank all of them.  (Applause.)

And there’s another person who helped bring the magic of our theme to life: the incredible illustrator of our 2024 White House Holiday G- — Holiday Guide, Zoe Ranucci.  Zoe, where are you?  Oh, there she is.  (Applause.) 

You’ll have to say hello to everybody, Zoe, because they so appreciate everything you’ve done.  Thank you for creating the beautiful artistry in your design. 

So, these last four years, you know, there’s a group of people who have helped us stay in touch with the American people, and they’re our correspondence volunteers.  (Applause.)  So, you can imagine how much I appreciate them, as an English teacher, and their writing skills, because I teach writing.  So, all of you are an essential part of our democracy, and I’m so grateful for your work.

Thank you all for your heart and for everything you’ve done to make this possible — the people’s house.

So, for Joe and for me, these are the final holidays at the White House.  So, standing with all of you, I remember the first time we walked across this threshold right over here on Inauguration Day, and the gravitational pull of history guided us forward, wrapping us in the centuries of stories that live here in this house.

Then we were finally able to welcome all the visitors.  And on public tours and on receptions and as volunteers decorated during the holidays during the four years, your laughter and ideas harmonized with the echoes of the past.  And in those moments, this became more than a historic house.  You made it a home, alive with purpose and possibility.

And that’s why, each year, we’ve opened the doors of the people’s house wider and wider so we can bring the light of more Americans into these halls. 

It’s been the honor of our lives to serve as your first family.  May our nation be blessed with peace and light this holiday season.

Merry Christmas.  Happy Holidays.  We love you all.

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Love you.  (Applause.)

1:07 P.M. EST

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State Dining Room, The White House

It’s great to be here today with a fellow community college professor and Delawarean. Lieutenant Garden, thank you for sharing your story, and for adding a new link to the chain of your family’s military legacy. I am so grateful to you, John, and Jaiden for your family’s service.

General Nordhaus, you are guided by a deep sense of purpose. Thank you for your decades of service to our country—and for this new chapter, as you will make the Guard stronger and more resilient.

I’m also grateful to Major General Wendy Wenke, SEA John Raines, and his spouse Karen for their record of service and leadership.

The Bidens are a Guard family—our son Beau was a Major in the Delaware National Guard. So we understand what makes Guard life different.

You don’t live on bases. One day, you’ll be in uniform—and the next, you’ll be running a small business, practicing law, or teaching at a community college.

You live and work and worship among civilians. And through your service, you become the beating heart of your communities.

But I also know that this life isn’t easy. It asks you to balance the demands of a career with the responsibilities of stepping up for our country, to spend time away from your families—sometimes at a moment’s notice—and to put your lives on the line to answer the call of duty.

The day after Joe’s inauguration in 2021, I brought baskets of chocolate chip cookies to National Guard troops who had kept all of us safe on that important day. It was a small act, but full of a Guard mom’s love and gratitude.

National Guard families are always in my heart.

As First Lady, I’ve made National Guard families—and all military families—a priority.

Over the past four years, through our initiative to support military families, called Joining Forces, we’ve been helping make sure that National Guard kids have the support they need in schools, that spouses have all of the career opportunities they deserve, and that we care for both the physical and mental health of our service members.

I began my time as First Lady by thanking National Guard members, and I remain grateful. For your service, and for sharing your stories and hopes with me. I have been so proud to work together, arm in arm, to make this life a little easier for fellow Guard families.

Now, this is a special time of year as we transform this house for the holidays. And one of the privileges I have as First Lady is deciding who will be the first to experience the magic of the season here at the White House.

Every year, I’ve asked to share it with National Guard families.

So today, I hope you’ve found delight in everything from the gingerbread house to the carousel that circles the tree in the Blue Room—and that even in the flow of the holiday season, you would find peace in your purpose and strength in your community.

May God bless you and your families.

Happy holidays!

###

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2:51 P.M. EST
 
DR. DRIFFIN:  Hello.  I’m Dr. Daniel Driffin. 
 
As a person living with HIV, working daily among the HIV Vira- — the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, days like World AIDS Day are significant to me.
 
For more than 36 years, nations near and far have raised awareness of those impacted by and living with HIV.
 
Today, with the theme of “Collective Action: Sustain and Accelerate HIV Progress,” I know we can continue to reduce the negative impact that HIV continues to have on our lives.
 
Action and progress link our globe as we continue to make advancements towards ending HIV.  Action and progress have taken our world from no test for HIV to having rapid, home-based testing.
 
We went from medications that only stop HIV on one step of the life cycle to medications that stop HIV throughout the process of multiplying.
 
We went from the days where people had to take many pills more than one time a day to now being able to either take a pill once a day or even an injection every two months, and additional therapies and longer options are on the horizon.
 
We know pre-exposure prophylaxis works.  We know post-exposure prophylaxis works.  We boldly know undetectable equals untransmittable, especially for the people living with HIV — I mean thriving with HIV.
 
As a person living with HIV, a new discussion is finally afforded around the importance and shared decision-making with your medical providers.
 
So, today, as we share time, take a moment and take in the more than 110,000 lives which are shared on these panels behind us.  Thank you for the artists.  Thank you for beauticians.  Thank you for lawyers.  Thank you for scientists.  Thank you for community health workers, doctors, caregivers, lovers, and maybe even future congressional members, and all of the other friends that we have lost due to HIV and AIDS.
 
I am happy to bring up our first lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden.  (Applause.)
 
THE FIRST LADY:  (Laughs.)  Thank you.  Thank you. 
 
Daniel, thank you.  Your leadership is redefining what it means to support people with HIV — not only access to health care but with community as well.  Because of your work, more people know that they are not alone.
 
So, good afternoon and welcome to the White House.  (Applause.)
 
Hidden in crowds, scattered throughout workplaces and grocery stores and parks, there is a fellowship of people who have lost sons and daughters.
 
To the uninitiated, we look normal, average, whole.  But like a secret handshake, I can spot them by the sadness that rests in the corner of their smile, by the curve of their shoulders, as if they can still feel the small arms of a child wrapped around their necks.
 
And though we are strangers, we know untellable truths about one another: that we will spend the rest of our lives longing for a face that’s gone forever and — and that when they left our world, they took a light inside us with them.
 
Still, we have discovered moments of grace too.  Somehow, against all odds, we rise from the floor, we find a fortitude that we didn’t know we had, and we reach out for help.  We realize that we’re not alone.
 
And as I look at this beautiful quilt, with its bright colors, the names in big block letters, renderings of lives and loves, I see it as a mom.  And I think of the mothers who stitched their pain into a patchworked panel so the world would remember their child not as the victim of a vicious disease but as a son who had played in the high school jazz band, as the child who grew up to proudly serve our nation in uniform, as the daughter whose favorite holiday was Christmas.
 
The act of quilting creates a work of art that wraps us up in its beauty. 
 
This one was woven together with a grief powerful enough to move the world toward unity, acceptance, compassion, and grace.
 
And Joe and I are proud to have the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the South Lawn of the White House for the first time ever.  (Applause.)
 
And it is especially meaningful to gather with you on World AIDS Day.
 
May we all feel the power of this worldwide day of unity.  And may we always cover each other in kindness, compassion, and beauty.
 
Joe and I are honored to have Jeanne White-Ginder here with us and to join with her in remembering her son, Ryan White.  (Applause.)
 
Jeanne, I know you didn’t choose the life of an activist.  But when Ryan got sick 40 years ago, you stepped up in the fight against discrimination and helped the world see this disease more clearly.
 
I know that a part of you is still missing.  Mother to mother, thank you for your strength.
 
So, Jeanne, would you like to say a few words?  (Applause.)
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Want me to hold your cane?
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  Yeah, let me see. 
 
Where’s my —
 
THE FIRST LADY:  Here, I think it’s this way.  Here it is.
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  Okay.  (Laughter.)  Sorry.
 
Good afternoon, everybody.  My name is Jeanne White-Ginder, and I am the mother of Ryan White. 
 
Ryan was a smart and funny teenager who became HIV-infected at the age of 13.  He contracted HIV at the age of 13 and — from a blood transfusion.  AIDS took him from us five and a half years later but not before he fought his way to — back to school and taught America we needed to fight AIDS and not the people who have it.  (Applause.)
 
In 1990, however, shortly after Ryan died, Senator Kennedy asked me if I would come to Washington to explain to senators how vital it was to pass the AIDS bill which had been recently named after my son, called the — for my son, called the Ryan White CARE Act.  He said I was something much more powerful than a lobbyist: I was a mother.  I am sure that Dr. Biden can relate.  Needless — needless to say, I went.  I went to D.C.
 
The first senator I met, who was getting off the elevator at the Capitol, was Senator Joe Biden.  With tears in his eyes, he told me that he had lost his child and that the only way he had found to deal with it was through grief and with — through a purpose.
 
In the 34 years since, that’s exactly what I’ve tried to do, in partnership with the extraordinary community here today that has become my family. 
 
In many ways, personal grief has fueled the AIDS movement since the beginning.  Both Republicans and Democrats and congresses have strongly supported Ryan’s bill.  And as a result, countless lives have been saved.
 
I’m especially grateful for President Biden’s tireless leadership and all that he’s done for the fight against AIDS in the United States and around the world as senator, vice president, and president.  (Applause.)
 
That’s why, along with my daughter, Andrea, and on behalf of my dear friend and partner in this work, Sir Elton John, and his foundation — and so honored to introduce today our commander in chief in the fight against AIDS, President Joe Biden.  (Applause.)
 
Thank you so much.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  You’re —
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  (Inaudible.)
 
THE PRESIDENT:  You’re my commander —
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  Thank you.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  You’re my commander in chief.
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  (Laughs.)  It took us all.  Thank you.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Careful now.
 
I told her she’s my commander in chief.  (Laughter.)
 
Folks, you’ve changed the world.  Sorry, I have a cold.  You’ve changed the world.
 
Jeanne, thank you for the introduction and for your courage.  You just described the first time we met after your son passed away, and what I saw in you then was something extraordinary.  You said it best: a mom on a mission, turning your plan into purpose. 

After all these years, looking at everything you’ve achieved, the lives you’ve touched, the country you’ve changed, the world you’ve made better, you’re extraordinary, and it’s an honor to have you with us today again at the White House.  Love you.  (Applause.)

To the families here today, as Jill just said, we know how hard it is in different ways, but we know.  We know. 

I hope you can find comfort in remembering the one thing that’s never lost: your love for them and their love for you. 

Jill and I, along with countless others, are forever grateful to you for your collective and individual courage.  And Jill and I are especially grateful for the trust you put in us. 

It’s been the honor of our lives to serve in the White House — the people’s house, your house.  We felt a special obligation to use this sacred place to ensure everyone is seen and the story of America is heard.  That’s why we’re all together here on this World AIDS Day.  And I want to thank all of you, allies and advocates who are here, including Sir Elton John’s foundation and so many others for the long history of this fight, both globally and here at home.

Jill and I met with Elton and David this summer, and this event is, in no small part, the result of that meeting. 

And a special thanks to one of the great public health officials — a true hero — who have led this fight against HIV/AIDS, Dr. Anthony Fauci.  (Applause.)  Where is Anthony? 

Anthony, you’re a good man.  (Applause.)  God love you.  As my mother would say, “God love you, Anthony.”  (Laughter.)

I also want to alo- — acknowledge Dr. Laura Cheever, HIV leader — (applause) — Department of Health and Human Services —

THE FIRST LADY:  Oh, right here.

THE PRESIDENT:  — who’s re- —

THE FIRST LADY:  In the front.  The blonde.

THE PRESIDENT:  — who’s retiring this year.  She started when she was — after 25 years of service.  She started when she was 10, if you take a look at her.  (Laughter.)  God love you. 

The idea of the quilt was conceived in 1985 by Cleve Jones and Mike Smith, who is here with us today. 

Mike, there you are.  Stand up, Mike.  (Applause.)

To honor the memory of all those we lost to HIV/AIDS.  It started with one name on one panel nearly four decades ago.  And decades later, 50,000 panels and 110,000 names. 

This quilt weighs 54 tons, the largest community art project in the entire world, and tells the tragic stories of brothers who died too soon; moms who contracted AIDS at childbirth — her daughter’s life stolen, eventually her own as well; friends and partners who lost loved ones of their lives; and so many more stories of precious lives cut too short.

And I do realize that these days of celebration, they bring back all the memories.  They’re hard.  It’s not easy.  It’s important, but it’s not easy.  So, I want to thank you for being here. 

This quilt was first displayed on the National Mall in 1987.  Over the years, it made its way to the Ellipse and President Clinton’s inaugural parade. 

Today, for the first time in our nation’s history, the sections of AIDS quilts are being publicly displayed here at the White House because — (applause) — because, like the first threads of this quilt stretched nearly 40 years ago — stitched nearly 40 years ago, this movement is fully woven into the fabric and history of America, shining a light on the memory and the legacy of all the sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, moms and dads, partners and friends who have lost — who we’ve lost to this terrible disease. 

Together, we honor the spirit of resilience and the extraordinary strength of people, families, and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, including the nearly 40 million people living with HIV around the world today — 40 million.  And we send a clear message to the nation and to the world that we stand united in the fight against this epidemic. 

It matters.  It matters we reinstate that.

I remember as senator when this epidemic was raging, the stigma, the misinformation, the government failing to act and acknowledge the dignity of LBGTQ+ lives and the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic.  It caused serious harm.  It compounded pain and trauma for a community watching a generation of loved ones and friends perish.  It was horribly, horribly wrong. 

We’ve also seen advocates, survivors, families, allies who have turned their pain into purpose like all of you have, their loss into determination, their anger into a movement that’s literally changing the world.  Science — new scientific discoveries, new preventative care, new global partnerships, and so much more. 

For example, through what’s known as PEPFAR — the President’s Emergency Plan on AIDS Relief — launched by President Bush — and he deserves credit — (applause) — George W. Bush — we made the single largest investment of any nation in the world to tackle a single disease, saving more than 26 million lives so far. 

I’m proud to have reauthorized PEPFAR last year, and I can — I’m going to call on Congress to pass five-year PEPFAR reauthorization to sustain these gains we made globally.  (Applause.) 

In fact, later today, I’m traveling in Angola in Africa, where we’re deepening our partnership across the continent on mainly health priorities, including improving outcomes for people with — people living with HIV through PEPFAR. 

It matters.  It matters throughout the world. 

But for all our progress, too many people continue to live with HIV, including 1 million Americans.  That’s why my first year in office, I launched a new national HIV/AIDS strategy to ensure treatment and prevention is available to everyone everywhere, all across this country, and that includes ensuring medications that can prevent HIV infections are affordable and available in all forms, without co-pays for people with health insurance.  (Applause.)

We made clear to the insurance companies they can’t deny coverage for these medications or for lab tests that doctors recommend to patients. 

We’re fighting the stigma of discrimination against the HIV community by ending the shameful — the shameful practice of banning gay and bisexual men from donating blood; strengthening civil rights protections in medical settings for people with HIV; educating the public about the latest science in transmission, testing, and prevention and care. 

So many of you have been leading the way in these efforts, including the late Cornelius Baker — (applause) — who passed away three weeks ago, as a pioneer on advancing HIV testing. 

Together with all of you, we’re also calling on states and community leaders to repeal outdated HIV criminalization laws throughout this country.  (Applause.)

And I’m proud to announce, before the end of my term, the Center for Medical and Medi- — Medicare and Medicaid Services will update its guidance on HIV care, encouraging states to adopt the best practices using the latest science and technology.  It matters.  It matters.  (Applause.)

Folks, you’ve been standing a long time, so let me close with this.  (Laughs.)  You’re pretty good.  (Laughter.)  I know the fight to end this terrible epidemic is hard.  But I look around today — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — I look around today at all of you — survivors, families, heroes who have never given up — and I know it’s a fight that we’re going to win for all the lives lost and for all those that are still alive.

Look at what you’ve already done to change the hearts and minds and save lives across the country and around the world. 

That’s the power of this movement.  That’s the power of memory of your loved one.  That’s the power of America. 

We just have to keep going, keep the faith, and remember who in the hell we are.  We’re the United States of America, and there’s nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together — nothing, nothing, nothing.  (Applause.)

God bless you all.  And I know I’d like to invite everyone to view the quilt, so, folks, I’m getting off this stage.  (Laughter.) 
 
But really and truly, I mean it from the bottom of my heart: You’re changing the world.  You’re changing the world. 

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

3:11 P.M. EST

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11:10 A.M. EST

Q    Mr. President, what are you thankful for?  What are you thankful for this year?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m thankful for — for my family.  I’m thankful for a peaceful transition of the presidency.  And I’m thankful for the fact that, I think, with the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbors and a little bit of luck, we’re going to get some more progress in the Middle East.  And I’m really thankful for being able to get the first piece done on Lebanon.  There’s a lot to be thankful for.

I mean, look, we’re the United States of America.  I know I’ve said this a thousand times — some of you have heard me say it more than once — but I really believe there’s nothing beyond our capacity — nothing beyond our capacity when we work together.  So, that’s the hope: We’re going to be able to do that.

So, that’s what I’m thankful for.

Q    Mr. President, have you spoken with the three formerly detained Americans who have returned from China?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, I have.  I spoke with all three of them.  You know, one was there only three years, but he was for a life sentence.  Other one was there for — I think it was a total of 20-some years.  Anyway, they’re long, long stays.  And I’m really happy they’re home. 

I got to talk to them all when they landed in Alaska.  They’re reu- — reunited with their families.  And — and it’s — I was very — very happy to be able to get it done.

Q    (Inaudible) tariffs with Canada and — and Mexico that the President-elect is talking about? 

THE PRESIDENT:  I hope he rethinks it.  I — I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do. 

You know, look, one of the things you’ve heard me say before that we — we’re — we have an unusual situation in America.  We’re surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies: Mexico and Canada.  And the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.  I think we’ve got them in a good place.  I think the —

And, by the way, you know, the cooperation with the outgoing president — incoming president, the illegal crossings are down considerably to what they were back in — when he was in office. 

There’s a lot more to do.  But I — I just think — I hope they reconsider.

(Cross-talk.)

Q    President-elect Trump proposed tariffs on China as well.  Are you worried about that as well or that relationship?

THE PRESIDENT:  I — I — we have reached a relationship where there’s a status quo ante with regard to China.  China has — is — we’ve set up a hotline between President Xi and myself, as well as through our military — a direct line. 

The one thing I’m confident about Xi is he doesn’t want to make a mistake.  And I mean that sincerely.  And I’m not saying that he is our best buddy, but he — he understands what’s at stake. 

And that’s why I’ve spent so much time, as you know, getting the situation in the South Pacific, as well as in the Indian Ocean, in the (inaudible).  So, a combination of Japan, Australia, India.  I mean, things are moving in the right direction, with the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbors.

One last question. 

Q    Mr. President, there are many Americans who are worried about the future this holiday season.  What is your message to them?

THE PRESIDENT:  My message is to just remember who we are. 

Look, you all have a very tough job.  And I’m not being solicitous — a really tough job.  Think about it.  If — we — I — I remember a couple weeks ago, the survey done: How do people feel about where they are?  It was at 62 percent and (inaudible) percent thought they were doing pretty well.  What do they think about the direction of the country?  Thirty-five percent — only thirty-five percent or so thought it was moving in the right direction. 

I think there’s an explanation for that.  If you think about it, what do you — I’m — it’s not a criticism of the press — and I mean this; you know me too well — (laughs) — is that you turn on the television and you don’t see a lot of good news.  Even the stuff that is good news doesn’t seem to sell very well.  And so, when you turn on the TV, everything looks bad.  Everything looks bad. 

And now you have — I forget what the number is, but an exceedingly small number of people watching mainstream television and reading the newspapers.  I forget the number, but you know better than I would.  And they’re way down. 

So, where — where do you get your news?  And what — and how do you know what you’re getting is not just what you’re looking for as opposed to what’s happening?  Not because of you.  Not — I’m not being critical of the press. 

I’ve talked to too many of you privately.  You’ve been around a long time, and you got a hell of a job. 

I mean, you know — anyway, I don’t think — I want to make sure this transition goes smoothly.  I want to make sure it goes smoothly.  And all the talk about what he’s going to do or not do, I think there may be a little bit of internal reckoning on his — in his party, what — what he is going to do or not do.

So, it remains to be seen.  And — and the Congress is — is so razor thin across the board, it’s going to be a — I think it’s going to require what usually happens in these cases: some real compromise.  But we’ll see.  We’ll see.

And on Thanksgiving, I’m hopeful.

Thank you so much.

11:15 A.M. EST

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Joint Base Andrews
Prince George’s County, Maryland

4:39 P.M. EST

Q    Mr. President, what does this mean for getting the rest of the hostages home, sir? 

The hostages.  What does today mean for the rest of the hostages to come home?

THE PRESIDENT:  A lot of pressure on Hamas to set them free.

Q    If you would come closer, sir, you could — you could hear us better and vice versa.

How are you feeling today with the announcement, sir?

THE PRESIDENT:  Good, just like I told you today.

Q    Is Trump starting a trade war, sir?

THE PRESIDENT:  I have no comment on that.

4:39 P.M. EST

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Rose Garden

3:38 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.

Today, I have some good news to report from the Middle East.  I just spoke with the prime minister of Israel and Lebanon, and I’m pleased to announce that their governments have accepted the United States’ proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. 

And I want to thank President Macron of France for his partnership in reaching this moment. 

For nearly 14 months, a deadly conflict raged across the border that separates Israel and Lebanon — a conflict that began the day after the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel.  Hours later, at 2:00 a.m. in the morning, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations backed by Iran attacked Israel in support of Hamas.  

Let’s be clear: Israel did not launch this war.  The Lebanese people did not seek that war either, nor did the United States. 

Over the past year, including in the days immediately ta- — following October the 7th, I directed the U.S. military to flow assets and capabilities into the region, including aircraft carriers, fighter squadrons, and sophisticated air defense battery to defend Israel and deter our common enemy at critical moments.  

Since the war with Hezbollah began, over 70,000 Israelis have been forced to live in refugee — li- — live as refugees in their own country, helplessly watching their homes, their businesses, their communities as they were bombarded and destroyed.  And over 300,000 Lebanese people have also been forced to live as refugees in their own country in a war imposed on them by Hezbollah. 

All told, this has been the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in decades.  

How many of Hezbollah’s senior leaders are dead, including its longtime leader Nasrallah?  And Israel has — and Israel has destroyed Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon as well, including miles of sophisticated tunnels, which were prepared for an October 7th-style terrorist attack in northern Israel.  

But lasting security for the people of Israel and Lebanon cannot be achieved only on the battlefield.  And that’s why I’ve directed my team to work with the governments of Israel and Lebanon to forge a ceasefire to bring the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to a close.

Under the deal reached today, effective at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow local time, the fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end — will end.  This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities. 

What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed — will — I emphasize — will not be allowed to threaten the security of Israel again. 

Over the next 60 days, the Lebanese Army and the State Security Forces will deploy and take control of their own territory once again.  Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt. 

And over the next 60 days, Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces and civilians — civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities and begin to rebuild their homes, their schools, their farms, their businesses, and their very lives. 

We’re determined this conflict will not be just another cycle of violence.  And so, the United States, with the full support of France and our other allies, has pledged to work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure that these arra- — this — this arrangement is fully implemented — the agreement totally implemented. 

You know, there will be no U.S. troops deployed in southern Lebanon.  This is consistent with my commitment to the American people to not put U.S. troops in combat in this conflict. 

Instead, we, along with France and others, will provide the necessary assistance to make sure this deal is implemented fully and effectively.  

Let us — let me be clear: If Hezbollah or anyone else breaks the deal and poses a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self-defense consistent with international law, just like any country when facing a terrorist group pledged to that country’s destruction. 

At the same time, this deal supports Lebanon’s sovereignty.  And so, it heralds a new start for Lebanon — a country that I’ve seen most of over the years, a country with rich history and culture.  If fully implemented, this deal can put Lebanon on a path toward a future that’s worthy of its significant past.

And just as the Lebanese people deserve a future of security and prosperity, so do the people of Gaza.  They too deserve an end to the fighting and displacement. 

The people of Gaza have been through hell.  Their word — their world is absolutely shattered.  Far too many civilians in Gaza have suffered far too much.  And Hamas has refused, for months and months, to negotiate a good-faith ceasefire and a hostage deal.  

And so, now Hamas has a choice to make.  Their only way out is to release the hostages, including American citizens which they hold, and, in the process, bring an end to the fighting, which would make possible a surge of humanitarian li- — relief.  

Over the coming days, the United States will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza with the hostages released and the end to the war without Hamas in power — that it becomes possible.  

As for the broader Middle East region, today’s announcement brings us closer to realizing the affirmative agenda that I’ve been pushing forward during my entire presidency: a vision for the future of the Middle East where it’s at peace and prosperous and integrated across borders; a future where Palestinians have a state of their own, one that fulfills its people’s legitimate aspirations and one that cannot threaten Israel or harbor terrorist groups with backing from Iran; a future where Israelis and Palestinians enjoy equal measures of security, prosperity, and — yes — dignity. 

To that end, the United States remains prepared to conclude a set of historic deals with Saudi Arabia to include a security pact and economic assurances together with a credible pathway for establishing a Palestinian state and the full — the full normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel — a desire they both have. 

I believe this agenda remains possible.  And in my remaining time in office, I will work tirelessly to advance this vision of — for an integrated, secure, and prosperous region, all of which — all of which strengthens America’s national security.  

Getting all this done will require making some hard choices. 

Israel has been told on the — has been bold on the battlefield.  Iran and its proxies have paid a very heavy price. 

Now Israel must be bold in turning tactical gains against Iran and its proxies into a coherent strategy that secure Israel’s long-term — its long-term safety and advances a broader peace and prosperity in the region.  

Today’s announcement is a critical step in advancing that vision.  And so, I applaud the courageous decision by the leaders of Lebanon and Israel to end the violence. 

It reminds us that peace is possible.  Say that again: Peace is possible.  As long as that is the case, I will not for a single moment stop working to achieve it.

God bless you all.  And sorry to keep you waiting so long.  May God protect our troops.

Thank you.

Q    Mr. President, will you get a ceasefire in Gaza before leaving office? 

THE PRESIDENT:  You ask me how I get a ceasefire in — I think so.  I’m hoping.  I’m praying.

Q    How is this push any different from the previous ones?

THE PRESIDENT:  If you don’t see that, you shouldn’t be reporting.  It’s a lot different.

3:46 P.M. EST

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United States Coast Guard Sector New York
Staten Island, New York

6:10 P.M. EST

THE FIRST LADY:  Hi.  Hello.  (Applause.)  Please.  Please.  (Laughs.)

So, thank you, Captain Andrechik.  It’s been the honor of this military mom’s life to serve as your first lady and to meet with military families through my Joining Fam- — Joining Forces initiative. 

You’ve trusted me with your stories and your challenges: PCSing every few years, transferring IEPs across state lines, spouses struggling to keep careers.  I’m proud that in Joe’s administration, we’ve made it easier for spouses to bring their careers with them when they move, and we’re making sure that kids with disabilities have the support they need at their new schools.

As Coasties split their days between waves and land, you find home in the little moments: in bear hugs and be- — big smiles on little faces, in the people whose love warms you even on the coldest days, the bonds built on shore and the ones forged on water.  That’s what Friendsgiving is about: the families you create together.

And, Robert, for year- — for four years now, you and your team have been extraordinary partners, serving this beautiful meal with love.  Joe and I look forward to this celebration every year, and we’re so grateful for everything you’ve done. 

And you know the best thing?  It sounds just like home.  (Laughter and applause.) 

With all my heart, thank you for your service and your sacrifice. 

Now please welcome a Coast Guard spouse and someone who works every day to make this community stronger, Jaime.

MS. BILLERT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)

Oh.  Well, thank you, Dr. Biden.  And thank you for helping host this year’s Friendsgiving for our Sector New York and local unit Coast Guard families.

THE FIRST LADY:  Thank you.

MS. BILLERT:  Good evening, everyone.  

It’s an honor and a pleasure to share this experience with you and give thanks to the service of our members and, importantly, the service of our families.

We all make sacrifices as Coast Guard families.  And while these sacrifices are unique to each of us, they are all made in the best interest of our families for a better quality of life, a better opportunity for resources, accommodations, education, and experiences. 

To the tables tonight and Thursday who are missing someone irreplaceable, the community around you sees your sacrifice and knows it firsthand.  As the president and Dr. Biden have said through their Joining Forces initiative, we may stand and wait, but we do not stand and wait alone.

So, it is an honor to give thanks to the service of our families tonight.

Sector New York and local unit Coast Guard families, it is my privilege to introduce to you our president, Mr. Joe Biden.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Sector New York.  (Applause.)

And, by the way, kids can scream and cry and holler.  We’re Bidens; we’re used to it.  (Laughter.)  Kids rule in our house.

Well, thank you all very, very much. 

You know, I was thinking — I hadn’t planned on saying this, but I was thinking about this when I was coming up.  I was a pretty good football player in high school in my — I was a — I had it pretty good, and I had an opportunity to go and play in — but my quarterback, who was All-State as well, he came along, and he ended up being a quarterback for the Coast Guard Academy.   In 1912, but anyway.  (Laughter.)  When we — when we graduated.  (Laughter.)  

But, you know, you’re an incredible group.  Coasties are incredible.  I’ve had the opportunity to do the commencement speech at the Academy a number of years, and you’re incredible.  I mea- — really mean it. 

No branch in the military is stationed in more places than all of you.  You’re there for everything.

And, folks, you know, I know you’re hungry, so I won’t speak very long.  I want to — but just thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do and continue to do.

The Coast Guard motto: “Always ready.”  Over last year, those ro- — those words took on a — a sense of truth that they hadn’t had in a long while. 

When Iran sent weapons to the Houthis, you teamed up with the Navy, and you intercepted them. 

When the Baltimore bridge collapsed, which is — I spent a lot of time there — you arrived within minutes to help reopen the port in record time.  People thought it was going to take forever and ever.  You did it in record time.

When Hurricane Helene hit the co- — shore, you rushed to the front lines of search and rescue missions all up and down the coast.  When Hurricane Milton hit less than two weeks later, you stepped up again to help your fellow Americans.

And I also want to note that every day here in New York, you keep this port secure and the people safe, and the world knows it.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And, by the way, simply put, we owe you, and we owe your families.  And with all due respect to those of you wearing uniform, we don’t thank your families enough.  You know, it’s — and your kids, I want to thank them as well.  Not a joke.  I mean this from the bottom my heart.

You know — you know how exci- — people think, “God, you get to be — go stationed around the world; isn’t that wonderful?”  And then you tell — you have — your daughter is a junior in high school about to go to the junior prom.  You say, “I got great news.  We’re leaving.”  (Laughter.)  “You’re going to go to another school.”

I re- — I really mean it.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  We underestimate the impact that they all provide for you to be able to do your job.

And, folks, you know, I often say it: As a nation, we have only one sacred obligation, and that’s to care for those we send into harm’s way and care for them when they come home and make sure their families are taken care of before and after.  I mean that sincerely.

We had a son who was military, who passed and — because of — anyway.  He’s a major in the United States military — in — in the United States Army.  And, you know, it’s — you can see it every day.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you.  And I promise you, every day we’ll keep striving to live up to the obligation we have. 

And I’m anxious to — I may not eat.  I may come around to the table and meet all your kids, because everybody knows I like kids better than people.  (Laughter.)  Anyway.

Thank you, really, from the bottom of my heart.  And the families, thank you, thank you, thank you.  Not a joke.  I mean it from the bottom of my heart.  Thank you for all the sacrifices you make.

So, have a good meal.  And we got a great chef, by the way.  He’s the best in the world.

Well, thank you.  I’ll see you again.  (Applause.)

THE FIRST LADY:  The pastor is going to —

THE PRESIDENT:  The bad news is I’m going to end up feeding you. 

Pastor.

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER ROACH:  Thank you, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  Say an extra pray for me, will you?  (Laughs.)

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER ROACH:  Yes, Mr. President.  I’ll say an extra prayer for you.  (Laughter.) 

(The Friendsgiving dinner continues.)

(The Friendsgiving dinner concludes.)

THE PRESIDENT:  I’ve just been told I’ve been fired.  (Laughter.) 

What they do when they tell us w- — they set a time we’re going — how long we’re going to be somewhere, and then what they do is they close all the roads — the Secret Service does.  And if you want to lose all support for you — the Coast Guard and no one will ever vote for me again, I better get the hell out of here.  (Laughter.)

Well, thank you, thank you, thank you.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your service.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  I really — I really mean it.  Thank you. 

Appreciate it.  (Applause.)

7:10 P.M. EST

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The White House

Good afternoon.

This beautiful Fraser fir was grown at Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm, where the Cartner family has been growing trees for more than 60 years.

Their farm is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, a region that was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene.

The Cartner family lost thousands of trees to the storm. But this one remained standing—and they named it “Tremendous” for the extraordinary hope that it represents.

It’s an honor to be here today with Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, as well as members of the North Carolina National Guard—and their families—who are leading the work to rebuild after Hurricane Helene. This tree recognizes your tremendous strength and service.

In just a few days, volunteers from all over the country will pour in to transform this tree—and decorate the entire White House. And out of the whirlwind of glitter and garlands, will come the warmth and comfort of the season. I can’t wait for everyone to share in it.

Happy holidays!

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