The present Report provides a stocktaking of the current investment climates of five selected Southern Neighbourhood countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia), benchmarked against key investment facilitation standards enshrined in the Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA) signed between the European Union (EU) and Angola in late-2023. The Report aims at informing the EU and interested partners of the region on the potential of future SIFA negotiations for the improvement of local business climates, to promote mutually beneficial investments.
This Report was prepared by the OECD Secretariat (Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, Investment Division) with financial assistance from the European Commission. It was drafted by Rima Bugaighis and Faraz Moosa under the general guidance of Ana Novik (Head of the OECD Investment Division) and Hélène François (Investment Division). It also benefited from input by Martin Wermelinger, Fernando Mistura and Fares Al Hussami (Investment Division). Annex B of the Report was prepared by Petra Kelly (Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, Science and Technology Policy Division), with significant input and guidance by Deger Saygin (Environment Directorate, Finance, Investment and Global Relations Division) and was reviewed by Alec Fiorini (OECD Secretariat, Directorate of Global Relations, Middle East & Africa Division). The Report also benefited from valuable research contributions by Theresa Dammann, Hesham Omar and Kimberley Sesen.
Information for this Report was collected from publicly accessible government sources, in particular legislation, parliamentary documentation, and public reports, as well as OECD work in the MENA region and other publicly available information by International Organisations. Translations of legislation and similar material are provided for convenience and have no legal value. They are based on unofficial translations made available by governments or other authoritative sources or occasionally machine translation tools.
Countries whose rules and practices are described throughout the Report and in the Annexes, as well as the European Commission, have had an opportunity to comment on their respective draft sections. The material and feedback received under these processes, for which the OECD is grateful, has been incorporated in this Report, which otherwise continues to reflect the situation as of September 2023. The findings of the Report were also presented at the meeting of 15 May 2024 of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Regional Platform on Trade and Investment. The Report was finally circulated to the OECD Investment Committee delegates on 30 May 2024.