Global dynamics and trends are changing the nature of international cooperation and partnerships. From climate change and biodiversity loss, to geopolitical rivalry and undermining of multilateralism, without forgetting disinformation or attacks on human rights and roll back on liberal values. The setbacks on recent development progresses generated a decline in human development for the first time in 30 years.

The European Union (EU), more than ever, needs to work closely with its partners to face these challenges. Joint actions, based on common interests, will more successfully lead to a safer, greener, more prosperous and equal world.

In doing so, the EU intends to apply the ‘policy first’ principle. The EU’s participation in international cooperation and partnerships is carried out in a more strategic way to achieve wider political priorities whilst remaining strongly committed to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The creation of ‘Global Europe’ provides more coherence, simplification and flexibility to support our external action and underpin the EU’s international alliances and partnerships, at national, regional and international levels, to confront today’s global challenges and seize opportunities for political engagement to support our vision to build back better.

The world is facing a global food crisis, triggered by climate change, conflicts, consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and significantly aggravated by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The number of people acutely food insecure has reached a record level of around 222 million in 2022 (Global Report on Food Crisis of September 2022). According to the UN, hunger levels are higher than ever before with 45 million people in 37 countries at the edge of starvation or already in famine conditions.

The most affected people live in countries highly dependent on grain exports from Ukraine and Russia (mainly in the Middle East and North Africa), as well as in countries highly vulnerable to food insecurity (notably from Sub-Saharan Africa). Of highest concern are the “hunger hotspots”, including those at risk of famine - Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Nigeria. Others such as Pakistan and Syria have also been particularly impacted.

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Global Gateway is Europe’s offer to build sustainable and secure links that bring lasting benefits for people, economies and countries without indebting future generations and an effective contribution to achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It is the EU’s brand and overall strategic and political framework, putting a roof over the external dimensions of the Green Deal, the Digital Agenda and the priorities that have steered our work since the start of this Commission. Global Gateway is financed and implemented in a Team Europe approach.

Global Gateway, announced by EC President Von Der Leyen in September 2021,  is Europe’s response to the global infrastructure gap and the challenges of building back better following the Covid-19 pandemics. It builds on our own internal experience – the EU is itself a product of connectivity, and now the NextGenerationEU and national recovery plans are boosting the green and digital transitions of our Member States. We offer our partners expertise and resources, with both traditional and innovative financing instruments, to support their green, digital, just and resilient recovery.   Global Gateway aims at boosting smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport sectors and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world, by investing in physical sustainable infrastructure and people-to-people approaches

Global Gateway seeks an interconnected approach to our partnerships, which takes further the objective in our financial instrument Global Europe to “address interlinkages between the SDGs, to promote integrated actions that can create co-benefits and meet multiple objectives in a coherent way”. In addition, Global Gateway enabling sectors (democratic values, high standards, good governance and transparency, business climate) contribute to the whole SDG framework, especially SDGs 5, 8, 10, 16 and 17.

Global Gateway

Global Gateway flagships are key connectivity operations of geopolitical relevance supporting EU strategic interests aligned with our partners’ priorities and our political dialogues, strengthening links and promoting convergence of norms and standards and demonstrating the positive offer that Europe as a reliable partner can deliver. Beside these flagships, there is a larger range of other initiatives and projects, which will all contribute to the ambitious objective of mobilising up to EUR 300 billion of investments between 2021 and 2027, as announced in December 2021. For implementing the Global Gateway strategy and flagships, European actors join forces in a Team Europe approach, mainly through Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs). In practice, this means the contribution by and the joining of efforts with Member States (including their Development Finance Institutions and agencies in the area of development; but also export credit agencies: the EIB and the EBRD are just as critical as the contribution from the EU budget.

More info at https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/global-gateway_en