Despite Washington’s framing of a key railway network in Angola as a strategic counter to China, the CEO of the Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) says the company is “a purely commercial entity” with “zero geopolitical considerations”.
Advertisement
Nicholas Fournier, the newly appointed chief executive, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that the company was just one part of the broader Lobito Corridor, which aims to increase economic activity along the route.
LAR has strong commercial ties to China and serves as an important logistics provider for Chinese-owned mining companies while relying on Chinese manufacturing for its equipment, according to Fournier.
The project involves rehabilitating the 1,300km (808-mile) railway from the Port of Lobito in Angola to Luau on its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), to create a vital trade route for critical minerals.
There is also a planned greenfield railway link to Zambia and eventually to Tanzania, creating a cross-continental railway connecting the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as announced by US officials last year.
Advertisement
“We are a part of this corridor, but we are just one component,” Fournier said on Tuesday. “We are the logistics component, as we operate the rail and the port. There is no geopolitics involved whatsoever.”