Contending that what, in some instances, are their considerable unrecovered hydrocarbon resources should not become subject to recovery time lines set by rich countries, African nations like Angola contend that such timelines can only be determined by the vicissitudes of growth and development in those countries.
African leaders like Angola’s President Joao Laurenco continue to posit arguments that place the future of some countries on the continent in the hands of the extent to which those countries can succeed in exploiting their hydrocarbon resources and converting those into fortune shifting wealth that possess the capacity to extract large, poor African populations from what, in many instances, are conditions of endemic poverty.