Trade agreements between African countries and the European Union can help boost Africa's export competitiveness. These agreements need to be carefully designed to support integration into the global economy and align with national development strategies. To be effective, they must address barriers to regional integration, improve trade facilitation, and promote services liberalization. African countries also need to reduce external tariff barriers to prevent trade diversion and ensure that preferences for the EU do not lead to significant trade losses. This requires ambitious policy reforms supported by development assistance in the form of aid for trade.