India Extends $200M Credit Line to Angola During Lourenco’s State Visit

Angolan President Joao Lourenco was on a state visit to India from 1 to 4 May 2025. During a joint press conference on Saturday 3 May 2025, Indian PM Narendra Modi announced that India is extending a credit line of USD 200 million to support ‘the modernization of the Angolan Defense Forces’. In addition, the two countries signed a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen ties in various fields, including culture, traditional medicine, energy, digitalization and space technology.

This state visit by an Angolan leader to India comes after 38 years when President Dos Santos came to Delhi. It is also worth highlighting that 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Angola and India. However, cooperation goes further back as India supported Angola prior to independence during its fight for freedom.

During the India-Angola Business Forum held on 4 May 2025, President Lourenco highlighted Angola’s rich hydrocarbon reserves and huge agribusiness potential. He also underscored Angola as the maritime gateway of the #LobitoCorridor that is a principal economic corridor into the Southern African Development Community (#SADC), and even the larger African Continental Free Trade Area (#AfCFTA).

On the other hand, PM Modi expressed interest in deepening partnership in the fields of pharmaceuticals, including #Ayurveda, fertilizers, diamond, #CriticalMinerals, railway and energy. To support its #EnergyTransition, Angola officially signed the agreement to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA) initiated by India.

President Lourenco officially condemned the recent Pahalgam terrorist attack in Kashmir. Both sides reiterated interest to revive the India-Africa Summit with a view to hold the 4th edition in the not so distant future. PM Modi noted that President Lourenco currently holds the chair of the African Union (AU) and underscored that Africa and India are ‘pillars of the #GlobalSouth’.