Sal, Cabo Verde, June 20, 2025 (Lusa) - The government of Cabo Verde has expressed interest to the European Union (EU) in negotiating a Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA), the EU representation in Cabo Verde announced on Friday.
“This type of agreement is intended to facilitate private investment,” explained Carla Grijó, EU ambassador to Cabo Verde, during the investment forum that began on Wednesday and ends today on the island of Sal, with a day dedicated to partnerships with Europe.
“Angola signed the first agreement of this type, and it is currently the only one in existence, but a series of African countries, including Cabo Verde, have already expressed interest in the ‘investment facilitation’ instrument,” she said.
The agreement aims to “create mechanisms” that enable investors to use “effective channels of communication to resolve specific problems that may arise during the investment process”.
Organisers plan meetings in a joint committee, which the parties will set up after they sign the agreement, to streamline initiatives from different agencies and create “a kind of one-stop shop where investors can find all the information they need”.
“Cabo Verde already hosts entities that investors can turn to, and this approach brings everything together with focal points”.
“It is a good way to get feedback from the real economy for public policies that have to respond to these challenges,” Carla Grijó explained.
The government of Cabo Verde took the first step by expressing interest, and the EU Directorate-General for Trade then responded to move the process forward.
The process may still take some time before the parties reach an agreement: “I am optimistic, but I would say it is more a matter of months than years. On the one hand, there is already the experience of the agreement concluded with Angola” and the parties have agreed on financing, which also makes the negotiation more agile. It is mainly about mechanisms, ways of facilitating investment, i.e. “opening doors”.
Cabo Verde is seeking to attract more European investment in the digital, blue economy, and renewable energy sectors, thereby diversifying its economic activity beyond tourism.
The EU’s Global Gateway investment package in Cabo Verde focuses on these key areas, with a budget of €344 million. The EU announced the package in September, and the authorities are currently implementing it; it will continue over the next few years.
LFO/ADB // ADB.
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