GLOBAL
GATEWAY PROJECT - INTERNATIONAL
News:
Global Gateway unlocks
new funding
What's
in the news?
●
On the sidelines of this week's
Italy-Africa Summit, the European Commission (EC) and the African Development
Bank Group have formalised a new Financial Framework Partnership Agreement to
boost investments in infrastructure projects in Africa
Key
takeaways:
●
The
European Commission recently unveiled the Global Gateway
initiative, aiming to raise €300 billion by 2027 for infrastructure investment globally, both from public and private
sources.
●
While not explicitly mentioning China,
many view this initiative as a strategic move in response to China’s Belt and Road strategy.
Global
Gateway Plan:
●
It is an international infrastructure plan
of European Union.
Aim:
●
The plan aims to invest €300 billion ($340 billion) globally in infrastructure,
digital and climate projects by 2027.
Objective:
●
It plans to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport
sectors and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the
world.
●
The investment will be made in projects
that can be delivered with high standards, good governance, transparency while
ensuring financial sustainability at the same time.
Finance:
●
The Global Gateway will be delivered
through a Team Europe approach, which brings together the EU and EU Member
States with their financial and development institutions, including the
European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD).
●
It also seeks to mobilise the private
sector in order to leverage investments for a transformational impact.
Go
back to basics:
China’s
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI):
●
The BRI project was launched in 2013, it broadly aims to facilitate cross-border transportation of
goods, access to energy, creating demand for existing excess capacity in
Chinese industries.
●
It aims to develop land and sea infrastructure to better connect China to
Asia, Europe and Africa for trade and development, and it has found many
partners around the world.
●
China had an overall exposure of
investment of around USD 750 billion between 2013 to mid-2020.
Issue:
●
China argues that it respects its
partners’ sovereignty while providing loans that benefit joint projects, while
critics say Beijing’s contractual terms ignore abuses of human, labour and
environmental rights.