PREVIEW
The EU's new services trade deal with Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros is modest in scale — but enormous in what it unlocks
An upgraded trade deal between the European Union and Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelle is the first EU trade pact with African states to go beyond goods trade to cover trade in services. And the big prize for Europe is unfettered access to two of Africa’s financial hubs.
In covering services, as well as harmonising rules on state subsidies, intellectual property and a raft of technical non-tariff barriers to trade, the agreement opens almost all of the four African economies to EU firms. The EU Commission said the new agreement would match free trade in goods with ‘reciprocal preferential market access’ for services and investment, digital trade, public procurement and competition policy.
EU trade with the four African island states is relatively modest at a combined €9.7 billion (US$11.2bn) in 2024 But two of Africa’s two largest offshore tax havens, Mauritius and Seychelles, will now be open to European financial services firms to set up shop.
The European Commission confirmed on 11 June that the new agreement would make it ‘easier and more predictable for EU firms to supply services in the ESA States, including in sectors such as professional and business services, maritime transport, telecommunication, and financial services.’
The EU wants to market the agreement, which it says is open to the twelve other members of the Eastern and Southern Africa trade bloc, as part of its commitment to improved trade terms with the continent. Its main efforts since early 2025 have been focused on a revamped trade and minerals access pact with South Africa, but others are in the queue (AC Vol 67 No 8, Europe offers a green embrace ).
Kenya’s President William Ruto, who toured Brussels and Berlin ahead of the three-day G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains on 15 June, wants to expand the scope of its trade deal with the EU to include some services (AC Vol 64 No 14, A man for all summits).
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