Washington DC - This week, President Joe Biden will be departing on a long-promised visit to Africa as he seeks to ramp up US influence in the region.

According to CNN, Biden will depart on Sunday, making a refueling stop in Sal, Cape Verde, where he will meet with Ulisses Correia e Silva, the country's prime minister.

He will arrive in Luanda, Angola, on Monday, and on Tuesday, he's scheduled to meet with Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço and give a speech at the National Slavery Museum.

On Wednesday, Biden will travel to Lobito, where he will meet with regional leaders at the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit before heading back to the US that evening.

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The US considers Angola an important ally and, alongside Europe, has been investing in the Lobito Corridor – a railway system created to transport critical minerals across the region for export.

This will be the first time a US president has ever visited Angola, and it comes as China has been outpacing the US in growing its influence in the region by spending billions of dollars on infrastructure projects across the continent in recent years.

Russia has also been making inroads in the region, but a senior Biden campaign official says the president "put us back on the field" by "offering this alternative."