The European Union (EU) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat have formalised a landmark partnership worth more than €1.2 billion, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Addis Ababa aimed at accelerating the implementation of the world’s largest free trade area.
The MoU was signed on April 20 by Jozef Síkela, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, and Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, on the sidelines of the EU-Ethiopia Business Forum.
Síkela said the agreement reaffirms the EU’s commitment to supporting Africa’s economic and trade integration under the AfCFTA in order to boost investment opportunities, sustainable growth, and jobs for African citizens.
Mene noted that EU investment flows into Africa exceed €250 billion, accounting for roughly 40 to 50 percent of total foreign direct investment into the continent, and said the AfCFTA’s liberalisation of trade and investment regimes enables European companies to benefit from economies of scale across the continent.
The financial commitment operates under the Team Europe Initiative, a collective framework bringing together the European Commission and eight member states, and channels resources toward the AfCFTA’s critical implementation phase, regional industrialisation, and trade protocol negotiations.
The MoU builds on the broader African Union-EU partnership rooted in the Joint Vision for 2030, reaffirmed at the 7th AU-EU Summit in Luanda, and advances the objectives of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Among the instruments under the agreement is the EU Technical Assistance Facility, which provides demand-driven technical support to the AfCFTA Secretariat, regional economic communities, member states, the private sector, and civil society, positioning the EU and its member states as the single largest partner to the AfCFTA Secretariat.
The forum, held under the theme “Unlocking the Global Gateway Potential,” brought together policymakers, investors, and business leaders to explore new trade and investment opportunities, and coincided with Ethiopia’s entry into active trading under the AfCFTA framework, which Mene described as a major milestone in continental economic integration.
The AfCFTA encompasses 55 African Union member states and aims to create a single continental market of 1.4 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of approximately $3.4 trillion.
