 "Madame President’s visit consolidated four decades of friendship into a modern, multidimensional partnership that promises tangible outcomes in trade, technology, infrastructure, and human development. Image: PTI")
The state visit of President Droupadi Murmu to Angola from November 8–11, 2025, marked a historic and forward-looking moment in India’s engagement with Africa. This was the first-ever visit by an Indian president to Angola, underscoring India’s deepening political and developmental outreach to the African continent. The visit took place at a particularly symbolic time: Angola was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence and the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Angola.
This milestone visit came only six months after the state visit of Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço to India in May 2025—two back-to-back presidential exchanges within one year, something rare in diplomatic history. This pattern reflects the seriousness and warmth with which both nations now view their partnership. It also signifies that India and Angola are ready to raise their relationship to a new level of comprehensive cooperation.
India and Angola share a relationship rooted in anti-colonial solidarity and mutual respect. India supported Angola’s liberation struggle against Portuguese rule as part of its broader commitment to decolonisation and African freedom movements. After Angola attained independence in 1975, India was among the earliest nations to recognise the new republic and later established diplomatic relations in 1985.
Since then, India has remained a steadfast development partner for Angola, offering capacity building through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, educational scholarships, and concessional lines of credit via the EXIM Bank of India. These initiatives have helped Angola rebuild its institutions and human resources after years of conflict.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPresident Murmu’s visit, therefore, carried a strong symbolic resonance. In her remarks in Luanda, she congratulated the Angolan people on their golden jubilee of independence and reaffirmed India’s historical support for their freedom and reconstruction. The visit celebrated a shared past while charting a common path toward modernisation and inclusive growth.
On November 9, 2025, President Murmu was received with full ceremonial honours at the Presidential Palace in Luanda. Her meeting with President Lourenço included one-to-one discussions and delegation-level talks covering a wide spectrum of issues from energy, trade, defence and education.
Both leaders reiterated that the India–Angola partnership is founded on mutual trust, shared values, and a common vision of sustainable development. They agreed that the time had come to diversify their economic engagement beyond hydrocarbons and expand cooperation into emerging sectors such as agriculture, health, digital technology, education, infrastructure, defence, and capacity building.
Angola, currently the Chair of the African Union, also holds strategic importance for India’s broader Africa policy. President Murmu expressed India’s willingness to work closely with Angola in strengthening continental initiatives, particularly as both sides prepare for the Fourth India–Africa Forum Summit (IAFS IV), expected in 2026.
Several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed during the visit, expanding the institutional framework for cooperation. Among them were agreements on fisheries and aquaculture, marine resource development, and consular cooperation — practical areas that open new channels for trade and employment.
President Murmu also welcomed Angola’s decision to join two recent Indian global initiatives: the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) and the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA). These moves came after Angola had already acceded to the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) earlier in 2025 during President Lourenço’s India visit.
Together, these memberships place Angola within the expanding network of India-led global coalitions on clean energy, biodiversity, and climate resilience — a significant step in aligning both countries’ priorities on environmental sustainability.
The backbone of the India–Angola relationship has long been energy. Angola is one of Africa’s largest oil producers and has been a key supplier of crude oil to India. The two countries currently maintain a bilateral trade volume of about $5 billion, though Indian exports account for only around $500 million. Both sides acknowledged the need to balance and diversify trade, moving beyond oil to sectors such as agriculture, mining, pharmaceuticals, technology, and infrastructure.
Angola’s economy, historically dependent on oil for over 90 per cent of its export earnings, is now undergoing structural reform. The country recorded a 4.4 per cent GDP growth in 2024, compared with 1.1 per cent in 2023, its strongest performance in a decade. Under its National Development Plan (2023–2027), Angola aims to boost agriculture, manufacturing, and services. India’s development experience and technologies fit well into this agenda.
During the discussions, Angola expressed particular interest in India’s cooperation in the railway and defence sectors. The $200 million line of credit offered by India in May 2025 for defence procurement is expected to be operationalised soon. Angola also invited Indian collaboration in the railway sector. The Lobito Corridor Project, a transformative infrastructure initiative connecting inland mineral-rich regions to the Atlantic coast, has a large railway component. Participation in this corridor could make Indian companies part of a major logistics and industrial hub for southern Africa.
Angola’s accession to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) opens vast opportunities for Indian investors. Companies setting up production in Angola will gain preferential access to a continental market of over 1.4 billion people. This complements India’s own Africa policy, which emphasises investment-led partnerships rather than aid-based engagement.
By aligning with Angola’s regional ambitions, India positions itself to participate in cross-border value chains and infrastructure connectivity projects that are reshaping African economies. The bilateral engagement thus holds continental implications, allowing both countries to act as gateways to their respective regions—India to South Asia, and Angola to southern Africa.
President Murmu’s visit also celebrated the vital role of the Indian diaspora in Angola, numbering around 8,000. At a community reception in Luanda, she praised their contributions in sectors such as health, education, and business, calling them a “living bridge of friendship” between the two nations.
She also addressed a special session of the National Assembly of Angola on November 10, where she received a standing ovation from parliamentarians. Her speech reaffirmed India’s commitment to Angola’s journey of innovation, sustainable development, and inclusive growth. She also welcomed closer interaction between the parliaments of both countries, promoting the exchange of democratic experiences and best practices.
President Murmu’s visit built on the progress achieved during President Lourenço’s earlier visit to India. In May 2025, several MoUs had been signed on agriculture, traditional medicine and Ayurveda, and cultural exchange. India also extended support for defence training and maritime cooperation in the South Atlantic. The 2025 exchanges together represent a qualitative leap in strategic trust and cooperation between the two countries.
For Angola, collaboration with India represents diversification, away from an over-dependence on China and the oil-for-infrastructure model that has dominated its external economic relations. For India, partnership with Angola reinforces its energy security and extends its presence into a region of growing geopolitical importance.
A Shared Vision
Beyond bilateral issues, President Murmu and President Lourenço discussed global challenges such as climate change, food security, and reform of multilateral institutions. Both countries support a more equitable international order where the Global South has a stronger voice. Angola’s membership in Indian-initiated alliances and India’s support for African Union participation in the G20 illustrate this shared worldview.
The visit also highlighted India’s evolving Africa policy—one guided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ten Guiding Principles for India–Africa Engagement, which emphasise mutual respect, demand-driven development, and sustainability. Angola, as a rapidly reforming economy and a political leader within Africa, is well placed to be a cornerstone of this strategy.
A New Era of Partnership
President Droupadi Murmu’s state visit to Angola was far more than a ceremonial first. It consolidated four decades of friendship into a modern, multidimensional partnership that promises tangible outcomes in trade, technology, infrastructure, and human development.
The visit showcased India’s growing confidence as a global development partner and Angola’s emergence as a dynamic regional player seeking diversified and sustainable growth. Together, they now stand poised to transform a historically warm relationship into a strategic partnership for the 21st century, anchored in shared values, mutual benefit, and South–South cooperation.
As India prepares to host the next India-Africa Forum Summit, Angola’s proactive engagement signals a renewed chapter in the collective story of India and Africa—one that blends the solidarity of the past with the shared aspirations of a new global future.
(The writer is a former ambassador to Germany, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Asean, and the African Union, and the author of ‘The Mango Flavour: India & Asean After 10 Years of the AEP’. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Firstpost.)