Trade and Investment

1. Why Is This Sector Strategic?

Trade and investment are essential levers for Benin's economic transformation. Thanks to its strategic position in West Africa, its seaport, and its reforms in favour of the business climate, the country offers an increasingly attractive environment for domestic and international investors.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands and Benin share a common ambition: to strengthen economic exchange, support private sector development, and foster durable, job-creating growth. This ambition was recently reflected in a major institutional milestone: the signing, on 21 May 2026, of a tax treaty for the elimination of double taxation between Benin and the Netherlands, signed by President Romuald Wadagni following two years of negotiations. This agreement creates legal certainty for businesses and represents a powerful lever for promoting foreign direct investment.

2. Portfolio of projects and programmes

Digitalising the Business Environment

IMPLEMENTED

MonEntreprise.bj (2019–2022, with UNCTAD-DDE partnership): a platform simplifying business creation procedures, launched by APIEx in 2020. Concrete results: the number of business creations doubled between 2020 and 2022 (tripled for entrepreneurs under 30, 30% of them women), with a direct impact of +FCFA 400 million on APIEx revenues in 2022. Benin has become one of the fastest countries in the world for business creation.

Propex (December 2025–February 2026, with ITC’s technical assistance): strengthening the capacity of APIEx and export-ecosystem actors; a second phase focused on supporting enterprises is currently in development.

ONGOING

Electronic Window for Investment and Exports – investbenin.bj (2024–2026, fully financed by the Embassy): an operational platform offering online services across five key areas (Investment Code approval, Special Economic Zone establishment, customs duty exemptions for SMEs, export support for micro and small enterprises, and PACOFIDE grant applications).

ePME Platform (2026–2027, currently in development): support to ADPME for two complementary modules  a marketplace and local content.
Supporting Enterprises and Entrepreneurship

IMPLEMENTED

Trade Facilitation in West Africa (WATF) (2017–June 2024, Dutch contribution of €15.8 million / FCFA 10.36 billion to ECOWAS; World Bank and GIZ): facilitating trade along the Cotonou–Niamey corridor, strengthening civil society advocacy capacity, and promoting small-scale cross-border trade.

ONGOING

Benin Business Champions (2025–2027, with Resilience B.V.): supporting around twenty Beninese agri-food companies to strengthen their entrepreneurial capacity, facilitate access to finance, and connect to regional and European markets.

Orange Corners Benin + Orange Corners Innovation Fund: an incubation and acceleration programme for young entrepreneurs and high-impact startups, running through 2030.

Benin HortiHub (2026–2028, with Holland GreenTech): demonstration centres in Parakou and Allada for the vegetable and potato value chains.

PUM Programme: subsidised technical consultations by retired Dutch experts, to strengthen the capacity and productivity of Beninese enterprises.

Benin HortiHub (2026–2028, with Holland GreenTech)
Horticultural demonstration centres in Parakou and Allada, dedicated to spreading efficient practices in the market-gardening and potato value chains.

Structuring Infrastructure
Cotonou Artisanal Fishing Port (works starting Q4 2026, total cost ~€90 million / FCFA 59 billion; Invest NL financing, 50% grant and 50% concessional loan): relocation to Xwlacodji, part of the Cotonou Port modernisation programme whose Master Plan was funded by the Netherlands in 2019.

Lake Nokoué Development (holistic vision and priority dredging projects, total estimated cost €120 million, with a €60 million MoU already signed, equivalent to FCFA 40 billion): creating a river-lagoon route between Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, and Porto-Novo, with embarkation/disembarkation ports and artificial islands built from dredged sediment  an economic and logistical dimension that complements the ecological component of this same project, already presented in the Water section.

3. Overall sector contribution

Through these initiatives, the Netherlands contributes to strengthening Benin's private sector by improving business capacity, digitalising public administration, and facilitating access to markets and finance. The May 2026 tax treaty consolidates this dynamic by offering investors a stable and predictable legal framework, removing a longstanding barrier for Dutch companies considering operations in Benin.

Several Dutch companies already operate in Benin, including Holland GreenTech, Resilience, East-West Seed, Vlisco, Damen, and Boskalis  a presence that reflects the Dutch private sector's growing interest in the Beninese market, spanning agri-food, maritime engineering, textiles, and agricultural inputs.