Belgium (Brussels Morning newspaper) EU Ministers agreed to expand investments in Angola, a significant partner sitting in a vast amount of critical raw materials, vital resources for the EU to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.
This unyielding need for critical raw materials has led to increased attention on Africa, particularly Angola. The country boasts significant reserves of minerals, including rare earth elements, iron ore, and copper, making it a valuable source for the EU’s green transition.
This is the first agreement on sustainable investment facilitation that the EU ever negotiated as part of the EU’s Global Gateway, the bloc’s €300 billion investment strategy to counter China’s influence abroad with its Belt and Road initiative.
“The agreement will facilitate, attract and expand investments, and, at the same time, integrate environmental and labor rights commitments into EU-Angola relations”, the Portuguese agency Lusa reported on October 9 after the EU Council adopted and signed the sustainable investment facilitation agreement (SIFA).
In the first phase, the agreement contemplates the diversification of the Angolan economic model for a period of 20 years, by attracting investors who also help Angola achieve its climate commitments.
SIFA still needs to be ratified by the Angolan and the European Parliament.
“The current model of global wealth creation has prospered at the expense of the degradation of natural resources and social inequality, preventing the sustainable growth of the world economy,” wrote the Angolan economist Juliana Evangelista Ferraz.
With that in mind, Ferraz highlighted the need to firmly establish environmental commodities products that come from natural resources in sustainable conditions.
Angola is the seventh largest investment destination on the African continent for European investors, accounting for 5.4% of all European direct investment.
Other African countries are ready to collaborate with the EU. Bloomberg reported that the EU plans to sign partnerships with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia during a forum of the Global Gateway, in Brussels on October 25-26, noting that its sources asked for anonymity because discussions are private.
The negotiations with DRC followed a visit to Kinshasa in March by French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commissioner Thierry Breton, according to Andre Wameso, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Economic Matters for Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi.
“The EU wishes for a partnership for strategic primary materials, which the DRC accepted,” Wameso said.
These agreements will facilitate access to critical materials and will be part of the EU’s broader effort to develop the strategic Lobito/trans-Africa corridor — a railway project to connect Angola, the DRC, and Zambia to allow for shipping raw materials and minerals across the Atlantic.
