On Friday 17 November, the European Commission announced the signing of a new type of agreement with Angola: a Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA), concluded at the EU-Angola Business Forum in Luanda.
The main aim of this agreement is to increase sustainable investment from the EU in Angola, and should help to improve the business climate and sustainability throughout the country’s economy.
It should attract new investment in sectors where Angola’s potential is “currently untapped”, according to the Commission, notably in “green energy, agri-food value chains, digital innovation, fisheries, logistics and essential raw materials”. In this way, Angola is seeking to diversify its economy beyond the oil and gas sectors, which are currently its mainstays.
The EU-Angola SIFA also includes environmental, climate and labour rights commitments in the relationship between the two parties, which undertake not to weaken them in order to attract investment, and to ensure effective implementation of international agreements on labour and the environment, including the Paris Agreement.
The agreement will officially come into force once it has been ratified by the European Parliament and the Angolan institutions.
See the text of the agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/9mh (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)