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The EU's policy towards Africa and the Pacific has shifted towards partnerships based on reciprocity, sustainability, and co-development, as enshrined in the Samoa Agreement. From a European business perspective, how does this new approach translate into concrete market access and investment opportunities for European companies, particularly SMEs? What are the key sectors where European businesses can expect to see tangible benefits?
The EU’s new partnership approach towards Africa and the Pacific translates into concrete opportunities for European companies, including SMEs, by combining market access, investment facilitation, regulatory cooperation and financing in a more integrated way. The aim is to create a more predictable business environments through regulatory alignment and dialogue, while also supporting the practical conditions for investment through Global Gateway corridors, private sector development programmes and coordinated financing tools.
For businesses, this means a more operational EU offer. The Global Gateway Investment Hub is an integral part of this offer and is intended as a single entry point for projects aligned with Global Gateway priorities, helping to identify promising projects early, support their preparation, improve coordination and mobilise European public and private financing. For SMEs in particular, this can improve access to financing and derisking of the business environment.
Business participation is a central part of this new more integrated approach. Feedback from both large companies and SMEs is essential to define EU interests clearly and to identify the binding constraints businesses face in partner markets. This input is channelled through business-to-government dialogues, national business chambers, Eurochambers, and EU delegations. Another important tool is the single entry point where EU businesses can register trade irritants. The overall purpose of business feedback is to ensure that EU policy tools such as EPAs, CTIPs and SIFAs are shaped by concrete trade irritants that businesses face.
Another example of a tool that aims to increase opportunities for EU business is the EU-South Africa Clean Trade and Investment Partnership. It is designed as a non-binding, flexible and targeted platform to create new trade and investment opportunities linked to decarbonisation and South Africa’s just energy transition. The priority sectors include renewable energy, electricity transmission and grids, clean fuels, raw materials value chains, and climate mitigation and adaptation technologies. Its implementation tools include addressing specific trade barriers, investment facilitation measures, regulatory cooperation and more effective and transparent access to public procurement in clean sectors. The business-to-government dialogue under the CTIP has already confirmed strong industry interest in South Africa’s energy and mining sectors, while businesses have also called for greater predictability and transparency in the business environment.
Beyond South Africa and clean energy, we also see a broader set of sectors where European businesses can expect tangible benefits. These include agri-food, pharmaceuticals, green value chains, critical raw materials processing, digital trade and services. For example, services currently account for almost half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s regional GDP, and Africa has recorded very fast growth in services exports. Besides services we also see large changes in digital trade on the horizon.
When looking at the future, the deepened EPA with Comoros, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius can serve as a template. It expands the scope of engagement to services, investment, digital trade, intellectual property and public procurement, offering further openings for EU companies.
The broader economic context also shows the potential of more future engagement of EU companies. Africa is projected to represent 25 per cent of the world’s population by 2050, with an estimated USD 16 trillion in consumer and business spending and a rapidly growing middle class.
Overall, the Samoa-style partnership approach is being translated into practice through a more integrated EU model that combines trade agreements, financing, regulatory cooperation and direct business consultation. For European companies, including SMEs, this means better support to access markets, more tools to reduce investment risks, and more structured channels to influence how EU engagement is decided and implemented on the ground.
Economic Partnership Agreements with African regions have been in place for some years now. From DG Trade's perspective, which EPAs have delivered the most significant results for European businesses in terms of market access, and where are the main untapped opportunities? What more can be done to ensure SMEs, not just large corporations, can benefit from these agreements?
All EPAs have delivered on their core objectives, offering tariff preferences, improved market access and institutional platforms for structured dialogue. They help address market access issues and provide greater predictability for businesses. For example, EU’s total trade with African EPA countries increased by 35% in the last 10 years compared to 2015, whereas it only increased by 8% for non-EPA countries. It can also be seen from the high preference utilisation rates on EU imports from EPA countries as well as functioning EPA committees that meet regularly.
The main untapped opportunities lie in using EPAs not only as market access tools, but as frameworks for deeper engagement on specific value chains as well as other areas such as digital trade, tourism, financial services, intellectual property protection, including geographical indications on both sides, and access to public procurement markets.
To ensure SMEs benefit more effectively, EPAs need to be connected to a wider support ecosystem. And the EU is moving towards such a more integrated approach linking trade, investment, development finance and regulatory cooperation through for example the investment hub. This can help reduce fragmentation and connect market access commitments with practical support on finance, de-risking and regulatory issues.
Involving business and SMEs more directly in implementation and in shaping new initiatives is and will remain of utmost importance.
The European Parliament has called for the Global Gateway to be more integrated with EU trade policy and to prioritize investments in regulatory approximation to facilitate trade. The Global Gateway Investment Hub, launched in October 2025 and operational since February 2026, is designed to help European businesses identify and co-finance opportunities. How is the Hub concretely helping Italian and European SMEs to engage in Global Gateway projects in Africa and the Pacific? What are the main obstacles European investors still face?
The Global Gateway Investment Hub is a single-entry point for projects aligned with Global Gateway priorities, intended to bridge the gap between strategic ambition and implementation by identifying promising projects early, facilitating preparation and coordination, and mobilising European public and private financing. More broadly, Global Gateway is part of a shift towards combining partner-country needs with a stronger assessment of EU strategic and private-sector interests.
For Italian and European SMEs, the Hub offers several practical benefits. It opens financing opportunities that can help de-risk investments and support the creation of bankable projects. It involves project submission through Member States, followed by national evaluation and EU-level mobilisation of financial and non-financial assistance. The Hub ultimately aims to bring together support under a coordinated umbrella, combining financial institutions, Member States, EU delegations and development programming.
A further benefit is that the Hub improves information sharing between business and EU institutions, which can help inform regulatory dialogue and improve the broader investment climate in partner countries.
In terms of obstacles what we hear from business often is a lack of predictability in the regulatory environment in partner countries, including sudden changes in rules and broader uncertainty for investors. Other obstacles include closed or non-transparent public procurement processes and administrative barriers. Besides these obstacles European businesses also face strong competition from actors able to mobilise and deploy state-directed finance more rapidly. Although the Hub is still in an early phase, it is intended to provide a more integrated EU platform to support firms, improve coordination and strengthen the strategic coherence of the EU offer to make sure our companies can better engage in this competition with other non-EU investors.
A major concern for European businesses is regulatory fragmentation and the lack of transparent standards in many partner countries. The Samoa Agreement's provisions on regulatory approximation, and the Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreements (SIFAs) like the one with Angola that entered into force in September 2024 , are designed to address this. How are these instruments concretely improving the business climate and reducing non-tariff barriers for European companies looking to invest and trade?
Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreements are a central part of the EU’s evolving offer. Unlike traditional trade agreements, SIFAs focus on improving the investment climate through practical reforms. It has four pillars: transparency and predictability, streamlining of authorisation procedures, focal points and stakeholder involvement, and the link between investment and sustainable development.
SIFAs provide a bilateral platform for cooperation on investment, reinforce investment-climate reforms in partner countries, and are complemented by technical assistance and capacity building. They are also explicitly linked to broader EU initiatives such as Global Gateway and other joint initiatives.
In Sub-Saharan Africa the only SIFA currently in force is the EU-Angola SIFA which has already provided concrete benefits for European companies. It has for example led to the modernisation of Angola’s digital single window for investors, online publication of a list of restrictions on foreign investment, and removal of fees to access Angola’s Official Journal. The modernisation of the digital single window has, for example, led to a reduction in the time needed to obtain a Private Investment Registration Certificate from three months to five days.
Ongoing implementation work includes stakeholder consultation mechanisms, efforts to address wider investor obstacles such as visa issues, and technical assistance and capacity-building on promoting trade and investment in Angola.
A SIFA with Côte d’Ivoire is expected to be launched soon, including additional provisions on sustainable cocoa, while work on Egypt and consultations on further partners are ongoing. In general SIFAs can deliver more transparent, predictable and business-friendly environments for European investors.
EU sustainability standards, while ambitious, can create challenges for European companies competing in third markets where these standards are not applied by competitors. The recent enforcement of the EU Deforestation Regulation has raised concerns about implementation and its impact on trade flows. How is DG Trade ensuring that European businesses are not put at a competitive disadvantage by EU standards, while at the same time supporting partner countries to meet these standards?
The European Commission is addressing the competitive challenges linked to EU sustainability standards by combining phased implementation, simplification, and support for partner countries.
On the EU Deforestation Regulation, it is important to note that the EUDR does not yet apply. Under Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, adopted in December 2025, the application date was postponed to 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators, while micro and small operators outside the timber sector will apply from 30 June 2027.
To make implementation more manageable, the Commission published a simplification package on 4 May 2026. This included a review report, updated guidance and questions and answers, a draft delegated act on product scope, and an updated implementing act on the information system. These simplifications are estimated to reduce annual compliance costs compared with the original design.
At the same time, DG Trade and DG INTPA are supporting partner countries so that compliance with EU standards becomes a shared effort rather than a unilateral burden. The EU is maintaining open and continuous dialogue with partner countries, offering support where necessary.
For example, the Sustainable Cocoa Initiative in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire aims to help build deforestation-free cocoa supply chains, and the EU has also supported the establishment of a multistakeholder platform to facilitate cooperation and implementation.
Overall, the approach is to balance sustainability objectives with business realities by providing more time to adapt, clarifying the rules, lowering compliance costs, and accompanying partner countries through dialogue and targeted support. In this way, the EU is seeking to uphold EU sustainability standards while limiting competitive distortions for European businesses and preserving stable trade relationships.
Looking ahead, with global competition intensifying and China and the US increasing their presence in Africa and the Pacific, what is DG Trade's strategy to ensure that European businesses remain competitive and have a level playing field in these markets? What should the EU do to ensure its partnerships deliver tangible and sustainable returns for European companies, and how can the business community contribute more effectively to shaping EU trade policy towards Africa and the Pacific?
DG Trade is addressing the competitive pressure in Africa and the Pacific by making the EU offer more integrated and more coherent. Trade policy, investment facilitation, regulatory cooperation, development finance and Global Gateway delivery are being combined into a single strategic package rather than deployed as separate tools. This whole of government approach is intended to improve predictability, support business, and create a more level playing field for European companies.
The EU's competitive positioning rests on being a trusted, rules-based and long-term partner. Other actors, notably China, are expanding their presence on the continent. The EU responds by communicating what it has offered consistently over many years, including preferential market access under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences and the Everything But Arms arrangement. Alongside this, the EU deploys trade defence measures to address unfair competition.
Three lines of action are intended to make the partnership deliver tangible returns for European companies, and for small and medium-sized enterprises in particular.
The first is stronger business engagement. Input from companies is essential to understand the barriers that exist on the ground and to define EU positions more clearly. Companies are encouraged to engage through business-to-government dialogues, national chambers, Eurochambres and the EU delegations. Under the Clean Trade and Investment Partnership with South Africa, the business-to-government dialogue has already identified concrete issues, including the predictability and transparency of the business environment, localisation policies, visas for project specialists, and access to procurement opportunities in energy and other sectors.
The second is better coordination and financing through the Global Gateway Investment Hub. For smaller firms this should improve access to finance, reduce investment risk, and integrate the EU support landscape. It should also strengthen the feedback loop between companies and the institutions, so that regulatory dialogue and financial support respond to practical business needs.
The third is a focus on high-potential sectors and value chains. Opportunities are emerging in agri-food, pharmaceuticals, green value chains, critical raw materials processing, digital and services.
Overall, the approach is to make the EU offer more coherent, more informed by business, and more operational, with closer links between trade policy, financing and regulatory cooperation. The role of the business community is central. Concrete information on barriers and opportunities allows the EU to target its support and improve conditions for European companies on the ground.