President Joe Biden arrived for his long-awaited first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa on Monday to the cheers of thousands in Angola, where he will highlight an ambitious U.S.-backed railway project meant to counter China’s influence on the continent of over 1.

Joe Biden is using the first visit to Angola by a U.S. president to promote Washington’s investments in the sub-Saharan African nation and see a slavery museum, where he’ll acknowledge the trafficking of humans that once linked the nations’ economies.

The president arrived in Angola, where he will highlight American commitment to Africa in the economic competition against China.