I concluded the Global Gateway Forum alongside my colleague Commissioner Urpilainen, President Assoumani of Comoros, who chairs the African Union, Mr Dammu Ravi from India, Principal Secretary in the G20, and Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez, whose country currently holds the presidency of the Union, together with other prominent EU Heads of State and Government.

300 billion euro investments in infrastructure, health, education

The Global Gateway initiative was launched in late 2021, after the COVID-19 pandemic. With this project, we intended to mobilise €300 billion in investment to support the economic and social development of our partners by helping build connectivity infrastructure, accelerate green and digital transition and enhance intangible infrastructure, including health and education.

One of our first flagship Global Gateway projects is indeed to help produce vaccines in Africa. During the COVID-19, the absence of vaccines production capacities on this continent has had very negative effects for the African population. Senegal President Macky Sall recalled the importance of this common endeavour during the opening of the Global Gateway Forum.

Global Gateway is an EU contribution to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, together with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.

Global Gateway is an EU contribution to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, together with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.  The global green and digital transitions can only succeed if they are just and if they benefit everyone, in particular the poorest and the weakest.

Global Gateway should also contribute to the EU’s economic security strategy and help “de-risking” our economy by making the EU’s supply chains less vulnerable. It should help improve the EU’s access to resources, from energy to critical raw materials that are necessary for the green and the digital transitions, while breaking with old style extractivism, and joining our partners in adding value locally and creating jobs in their countries. We want to “de-risk” our economy, but we do not intend to close it off. On the contrary, we want to develop additional links with new regions and countries.

Strengthened partnerships for ambitious goals

We intend to achieve these ambitious goals with partners of all continents from Central Asia to Africa, North and Southeast Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Global Gateway is also a tool to deepen our cooperation with other regional organisations, including the African Union, the CELAC, the ASEAN, the Gulf Cooperation Council... Since the beginning of my mandate, we have constantly worked to reinforce these links.

We want to deepen cooperation with partners and regional organisations.

We also need to work closely with our partners from the G7 and from the G20 to bring combined response to these international challenges. That is what we have started to do, with the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor project launched during the last G20 Summit in Delhi.

Not only a battle of narratives, but a battle of offers

Our relations with the countries in the so-called “Global South” are one of the main defining issues for EU’s credibility and EU’s future global role. We must reach out much more proactively to all our partners and Global Gateway can play an important role in achieving this goal. We are indeed not only in a global “battle of narratives” with other powers, but also in a “battle of offers”.

When we discussed the geopolitics of Global Gateway at the Foreign Affairs Council in November 2022, I pointed out that the year 2023 would be a credibility test, in which we need to over-deliver instead of over-promising. This forum has proven that we are indeed starting to deliver.

We are indeed not only in a global “battle of narratives” with other powers, but also in a “battle of offers”. And we are indeed starting to deliver.

Important projects on green energy are being implemented with Mauritania, Vietnam, Tanzania, the Philippines, and Bangladesh. After the launch of the BELLA Undersea Cable linking Europe with Brazil, we are improving digital connectivity in Costa Rica, developing digital programs in Senegal and enhancing digital satellite connectivity in Central Asia. The Lobito trade project with Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia will open up an innovation corridor across Africa. The modernisation of the port of Aktau in Kazakhstan will help develop what is commonly known as ‘Middle Corridor’, connecting Caucasus and Central Asia. We are also beginning to work on a new corridor across Mexico, to provide an alternative route from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Experts from the Port of Antwerp are working with colleagues in Walvis Bay to increase exchanges with Namibia, with whom we are developing a sustainable raw materials partnership. The same is being done with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. As already mentioned, in the run up to the Global Health Forum next month, the development of vaccine production in Africa is a clear demonstration of where EU stands. The EU has signed also during the Forum agreements with partners from Rwanda to Tajikistan, from Senegal to Bangladesh on all types of education from early childhood development to technical and vocational education.

Our future credibility will depend on our capacity to scale up these projects.

Our future credibility will depend on our capacity to scale up these projects. Two years ago, we set ourselves the target of generating €300 billion of investment for this endeavour; today we have committed to €66 billion, half of which will come from EU grant funding. It is already a huge amount of course, but looking at the world as it is, it is clearly not enough.

Supporting sustainable growth and building long-term relations

We have not been as fast as others have, in this global “battle of offers”. However, it is not about a competition on how quickly we can help build bridges, schools, rail lines or data centres. It is about supporting sustainable growth and helping create an institutional environment that is appropriate and helps develop a common understanding and long-term relationships based on trust.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed the Team Europe concept to help our partners around the world by coordinating the actions of EU member states, the European Commission, and the European and national financial institutions. We want to extend and deepen this approach with the Global Gateway. At the same time, we must recognise that Team Europe is still in its infancy.

The EU and its member states are by far the biggest provider of development aid to the “Global South”, but we lack coordination.

The EU and its member states are by far the biggest provider of development aid to the “Global South”, but we still lack an effective enough coordination on this matter. We must do more together to have the impact that our citizens and our partners expect.

This first Global Gateway Forum has shown to our partners that Europeans are aware of what is at stake and that the EU, its member states, and financial institutions have begun to deliver together. I am sure the second Forum will prove how we have been able to pick up the pace in the coming months.