President Biden fulfills pledge to visit Africa with trip to Angola this week

President Biden will travel to Angola this week, becoming the first sitting president to do so and following through on a yearslong pledge to visit sub-Saharan Africa while in office, as his presidency nears the end.

Mr. Biden's trip marks the first president to visit the region since 2015, and comes as he has long planned to make the trip to discuss economic partnerships and the vision for Africa's first transcontinental open-access rail network, among other issues. 

The president, who departs for the trip on Sunday night, had pledged to visit the African continent in 2023 before earlier this year saying he would visit after he was reelected. But the visit was thrown into question when he dropped out of the presidential race, before a trip in October was announced. Mr. Biden then postponed that trip to oversee the domestic response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene.