[{"bbox": [86, 152, 1136, 231], "category": "Text", "text": "ratification made it the 30th country to become a State Party to the AfCFTA which, as of August 2023, had 47 of the 54 signatories (87%) with deposited ratification instruments. In addition, Angola submitted a tariff offer to join the SADC Free Trade Area."}, {"bbox": [86, 238, 1136, 317], "category": "Text", "text": "The 6th Angola-EU Ministerial Meeting Joint Communiqué indicates that the EU would support the development of the Lobito Corridor in Angola into a strategic commercial hub in the continent and a catalyst for regional added value chains."}, {"bbox": [86, 323, 1136, 671], "category": "Text", "text": "In terms of mitigating and adapting to climate change, the SIFA aims to promote sustainable development, including commitments to effectively implement international environmental agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, to promote responsible business conducts through the uptake of international standards in companies, and to strengthen bilateral cooperation on investment-related aspects of climate change policies. In addition, supporting Angola's exports to meet international environmental standards will not only facilitate access to the EU internal market but also encourage the adoption of eco-friendly practices. These initiatives are aligned with Angola's National Climate Change Strategy 2022-2035 (Estratégia Nacional para as Alterações Climáticas de Angola - ENAC), the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and the broader goals of the Paris Agreement to support the transition to a low-carbon and resilience economy. Angola plans to unconditionally reduce greenhouse gases emissions up to 14% by 2025 as compared to 2015. The adaptation component identifies strategic measures in key sectors in order to improve adaptive capacity, enhance resilience, and reduce risks caused by climate change. By fostering green jobs, the Action will contribute to sustainable economic development and help preserve biodiversity and fertile land, further preventing deforestation and land degradation."}, {"bbox": [86, 675, 1136, 783], "category": "Text", "text": "In terms of decent work promotion, the SIFA foresees that each Party shall respect, promote and effectively implement throughout its territory the internationally recognised core labour standards as defined in the fundamental ILO Conventions. The Parties shall also promote investment policies which advance the objectives of the ILO Decent Work Agenda, and in particular maintain an effective labour inspection system for all economic sectors."}, {"bbox": [86, 788, 1136, 895], "category": "Text", "text": "In relation to gender, the expected improvement in business environment, notably procedures related to setting up and running a formal business in non-oil related sectors, encourage formal employment, which will contribute to reducing the gender gap, in complementarity with the ongoing EU Budget Support, through reducing the informal economy where 80% of informal operators are women."}, {"bbox": [86, 900, 1136, 1060], "category": "Text", "text": "Simultaneously, consideration should be given to the set of initiatives created and implemented by the government that aim to enhance governance, transparency, and predictability, thus contributing to improve the business environment, simplify public administrative acts and procedures, stimulate exports diversification, attract domestic and foreign investors to increase formal employment and economic growth. However, to give greater robustness in the implementation of these initiatives there are some gaps and limitations currently identified concerning trade and investment facilitation which this Action will help overcome."}, {"bbox": [86, 1080, 342, 1111], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [86, 1126, 1136, 1261], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite diverse and abundant natural resources and sustained efforts by national authorities to stimulate economic diversification, Angola remains heavily dependent on oil and the economy is characterised by little competitiveness, high dependence on imports, and limited productive capacity. The oil sector accounts for one-third of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than 90% of exports, while the agricultural sector is underdeveloped contributing 6.7% of GDP but employing 50% of the population¹⁵."}, {"bbox": [86, 1265, 1052, 1293], "category": "Text", "text": "To tackle the development of non-oil productive sectors, this Action addresses various specific problems:"}, {"bbox": [86, 1298, 519, 1324], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### (I) ATTRACTIVENESS TO INVESTMENTS"}, {"bbox": [86, 1330, 1136, 1438], "category": "Text", "text": "Angola faces the challenges of increasing investment, diversifying its source and making them sustainable. Although government measures brought some improvements in relevant indicators, such as the time needed to start a business, simplification and reduction of paperwork, granting entry visas, among other measures, these efforts have not had a sufficient impact on level of investments."}, {"bbox": [86, 1443, 510, 1469], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### (II) INCREASING TRADE AND EXPORTS"}, {"bbox": [86, 1475, 1136, 1583], "category": "Text", "text": "Angola has vast production potential to achieve food self-sufficiency and to compete internationally in products such as coffee, tropical fruits, cotton, corn and several others. However, less than 5% of its arable land is cultivated and imports more than 70% of the products it consumes. Agriculture is essentially family and subsistence, with little modern technological integration, although in recent years commercial agriculture has grown significantly."}, {"bbox": [86, 1623, 552, 1647], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁵ https://erc.undp.org/evaluation/documents/download/19518"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1682, 1144, 1707], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 25"}]