Portugal and the lusophone African nations share many centuries of a common history, for those countries were Portuguese colonies until 1975. In addition to having the same official language, Portugal and the lusophone territories have a legal and judicial system with the same matrix. Most of the basic laws currently in force in those countries precede their independence, while many of the lawyers currently practising there have studied in Portuguese universities. In addition, several recent statutes enacted in countries such as Mozambique, Cape Verde and Sao Tome were drafted with the assistance of Portuguese law professionals.
Angola and Mozambique started liberal-ising their economies in the early 1990s, thereby attracting substantial investment from many international, particularly Portuguese, companies.
