When it comes to investments, Zoll & Legal offers expertise consisting of legal and technical assistance in three main forms:

• Assistance with negotiations relating to foreign investments, including the negotiation of agreements and contracts between the client and a foreign entity;
• Assistance in the settlement of investment disputes, including foreign investment disputes between the client and its partner (whether a foreign entity or not), including arbitration, conciliation, mediation or any other alternative dispute resolution procedure;
• Promotion of intra-African trade, trade facilitation and trade policies within the FTAA region.

1. Investment negotiations

In this part of our investment expertise, our assistance takes one of the following forms, depending on the client's objectives:

• Study of the feasibility of investment projects and related assessments;
• Assistance in the negotiation of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) or other investment-related agreements and capacity building for beneficiary officials.
• Preparation of negotiating positions for investment agreements;
• Preparation of tender documents (technical bid, financial bid, etc.) and assistance in the tendering process (where contracts are to be awarded on a competitive basis);
• Drafting and negotiating of contractual provisions;
• Preparation of dispute settlement agreements and related assistance;
• Mediation, conciliation, good offices and arbitration of investment and trade disputes;
• etc.

3. Promotion of Intra-African Trade, Trade Facilitation and Trade Policies within the AfCFTA

On 21 March 2018, Africa reached a new milestone in its regional integration with the signing of the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Zoll & Legal's activities relating to this continental free trade area

Zoll & Legal provides advice, assistance, audits, compliance plans and training on the various aspects of this African programme:

• Support for the development of regional and intra-African trade in goods and services;
• Support for the development of African trade rules and policies;
• Support for the development of African trade rules and policies; § Support for export promotion for governments and exporting companies;
• Evaluation of trade policies
• Support for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA);
• Bringing national, regional, continental and multilateral trade and tariff policies into line with each other;
• Technical assistance on the trade policies of African States, the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs);
• Assistance in implementing, optimising and securing the trade facilitation tools of the AfCFTA;
• Support for the implementation of Trade Defence Measures;
• Support for the harmonisation, simplification, standardisation and transparency of intra-African Trade Facilitation measures;
• Advice and assistance to economic operators, organisations and institutions on the implementation of the FTAAf legal instruments: Agreement, Protocols on trade in goods, on trade in services, on dispute settlement rules and procedures, on investment, on intellectual property rights, on competition policy, and their annexes and appendices, etc. ;
• Training of economic operators, institutions and organisations on the legal instruments of the FTAA, etc.;
• International trade agreements, trade policies and the instruments of the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and trade and investment promotion.
• Training in international trade negotiation techniques and in the drafting of international trade negotiating positions.