Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The first-ever EU agreement on investment facilitation, the EU-Angola Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA) has gone into effect.
What Are the Key Objectives of the SIFA?
According to the press release of the European Commission, it seeks to stimulate foreign investments needed to attain sustainable development goals. The SIFA will construct more transparent, efficient, and predictable business conditions for investors in Angola and encourage sustainable investment by EU businesses in Angola.
How Will SIFA Improve Angola’s Business Environment?
The SIFA concentrates on improving the business environment via investment facilitation measures, such as improving the transparency of investment regulations, enabling the use of e-government for authorisations, and improving stakeholder involvement. Investment facilitation helps both foreign and local investors, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.
What Sectors Will Benefit from the EU-Angola Agreement?
The agreement also supports environmental and climate commitments, as well as respect for labour rights, assuring that the facilitation of investments is aligned with sustainability goals.
Progress in the business climate will help unclose investment in sectors with untapped potential, such as green energy, agri-food value chains, digital innovation, fisheries, logistics, and essential raw materials. The contract will thus assist Angola’s steps to diversify its economy beyond fossil fuels.
How Does SIFA Align with Sustainability Goals?
The SIFA is characteristic of the EU’s ambition to deepen its arrangements with Africa. It complements the purposes of the Africa-EU Global Gateway Investment Package, through which the EU will help African countries with €150 billion worth of investments. Based on this successful outcome, the EU Commission is investigating the possibility of negotiating SIFAs with other interested partner nations in Africa.
In the next steps, the two sides will now operate together to execute the agreement. The EU will help Angola through targeted technical support desired to promote trade and investment. A Committee on Investment Facilitation comprised of EU and Angolan representatives will also oversee the implementation of the contract and seek ways of further enhancing investment relations between the EU and Angola.
Why Is Angola a Strategic Investment Partner for the EU?
Angola is the EU’s 5th investment terminus on the African continent. It protects 8% of EU foreign direct investments in Africa, amounting to €21.7 billion in 2022. Angola’s investments in the EU amounted to €2.9 billion in 2022. The EU is Angola’s leading trade and investment partner. On 18 November 2022, the EU and Angola secured negotiations on the SIFA. The contract was signed on 17 November 2023 in Luanda, Angola.
The SIFA echoes the EU Commission’s commitment summarised in its 2021 Trade Policy Review to “propose a fresh sustainable investment initiative to associates or regions in Africa and the Southern Neighbourhood” who share the same ambition.
