A global gateway to creating links, not dependencies

News: With its new Global Gateway strategy, the European Union is showing how it can aid investors, partners and people, without any debt traps, and with projects that are sustainable and serve the needs of local populations.

What is the Global Gateway strategy?

– Read here

How EU is forging global partnerships with various countries?

India:

– In May 2021, at the Leader’s Meeting in Porto, the European Union (EU) and India adopted the Connectivity Partnership, expanding cooperation across the digital, energy, transport, and people-to-people sectors.

– The European Investment Bank (EIB) has financed over €4.31 billion in the India since 1993, including significant connectivity projects. New operations are in the pipeline, such as further EIB investments in urban metro systems.

Brazil:

Earlier this year, the EU and Brazil inaugurated a new fibre-optic cable between the two continents. This helps scientists in Europe and Latin America to work together, on issues from climate modelling to disaster mitigation. The cable links two continents together, building a data economy that respects the privacy of its citizens’ data.

Africa:

Recently, the EIB signed a €100 million credit line to support African small and medium businesses to recover from the pandemic and to seize growth opportunities from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

How the connectivity challenge is being addressed under the Global Gateway strategy?

For Europe to master the connectivity challenge, it needs not only principles and frameworks, but also adequate resources and clear priorities.

First, by using the resources of Team Europe, the EU and its Member States in a smarter, more efficient way. The Global Gateway will mobilise investments of more than €300 billion in public and private funds for global infrastructure development between 2021 and 2027.

Secondly, by ensuring that EU internal programmes — InvestEU, Horizon Europe and the Connecting Europe Facility — will support Global Gateway, alongside Member States’ development banks, national promotional banks and export credit agencies.

Thirdly, capital from the private sector will remain the biggest source of investment in infrastructure. EU is exploring the possibility of establishing a European Export Credit Facility to complement the existing export credit arrangements at the Member State level. This would help ensure a more level-playing field for EU businesses in third country markets, where they increasingly have to compete with foreign competitors that receive large support from their governments.

Fourthly, Global Gateway has identified a number of flagship projects. These include 1) the extension of the BELLA (Building the Europe Link to Latin America) cable to the rest of the Latin America, as part of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, 2) the expansion of the Trans-European Network to improve transport links with the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan countries, 3) scaled-up funding for the Erasmus+ student exchange programme worldwide.

Source: This post is based on the article “A global gateway to creating links, not dependencies” published in The Hindu on 14^th Dec 2021.