President Murmu’s landmark visit to Angola highlights India’s expanding strategic footprint in Africa, driven by cooperation in energy security, defence, sustainable development, and shared economic opportunity.
India’s diplomatic engagement with Africa received a significant boost as President Droupadi Murmu embarked on a four-day state visit to Angola, marking the first-ever visit by an Indian President to the country. The trip comes at an important moment, with Angola celebrating 50 years of independence and India and Angola set to complete 40 years of formal diplomatic ties in 2025. The visit highlights New Delhi’s renewed focus on Africa as a strategic partner, particularly in energy, defence, technology, agriculture, and skills development.
During the talks between President Murmu and Angolan President Joo Loureno, the emphasis was on expanding cooperation across key sectors. India sees Angola as a vital partner for its energy security, with Angola already supplying a substantial share of India’s crude oil imports. President Murmu underlined this relationship and conveyed India’s interest in securing a long-term energy purchase agreement with Angola. In addition, Indian companies are exploring opportunities to invest in onshore and offshore oil exploration and refinery modernisation projects within Angola.
The discussions also touched upon the expanding global focus on critical minerals. Angola possesses reserves of minerals that are central to manufacturing renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles, and electronics, areas that are integral to India’s energy transition goals. President Murmu emphasised that Indian companies were also interested in collaborating on exploration, processing, and value addition of such minerals, along with investment in fertiliser production and diamond processing. Given Angola’s place as one of the world’s major producers of diamonds and India’s global leadership in diamond cutting and polishing, both countries see a clear opportunity for mutually beneficial cooperation.
A number of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were exchanged during the visit, including those related to fisheries, aquaculture, and marine resources. The two leaders also discussed intensifying collaboration in technology, agriculture, healthcare, defence, infrastructure, and people-to-people exchanges. President Murmu welcomed Angola’s decision to join the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) and the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA), signalling shared commitment to environmental sustainability and conservation.
President Murmu also highlighted India’s advancements in rail technology, pointing to the Vande Bharat high-speed trains as an example. She conveyed India’s willingness to collaborate with Angola in modern railway development and skill-building initiatives for the youth. Both India and Angola have young populations, and skill development was recognised as a crucial area for future cooperation.
Defence cooperation also featured prominently in the discussions. India is in the process of finalising a $200 million Line of Credit to support Angola in strengthening its defence capacity. This follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement earlier this year. India has also been providing military training support to African countries, including Angola and Botswana, and expressed willingness to deepen capacity-building programmes further.
President Murmu’s visit signals India’s long-term strategic approach to building partnerships in Africa, centred not just on trade, but on development, sustainability, technology exchange, and shared growth. From energy security and critical minerals to skills, defence, and infrastructure, the visit establishes new momentum in India-Angola relations and reinforces India’s role as a constructive and reliable partner on the African continent.
