The Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, praised the merits of the EU’s Global Gateway investment strategy for sustainable development at a multilateral meeting in Tonga on Monday 26 August.
“The Global Gateway is the EU’s strategy to boost sustainable and secure connectivity around the world, in cooperation with development finance banks and private sector. It will be the vehicle for implementing the Pacific Protocol”, she declared in the presence of 15 leaders of Pacific States.
The Pacific Protocol is one of the three regional protocols of the Samoa Partnership Framework Agreement, concluded in Apia last November between the EU and 79 countries of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).
These regional protocols aim to strengthen cooperation on the ground, particularly in the Pacific island states that are particularly threatened by global warming.
“Two of the key priorities we identified together include cultivating the blue economy, and advancing environmental protection and climate resilience” the Commissioner highlighted, adding that European investment of at least €650 million would be allocated to the Pacific region, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and the EU’s overseas countries and territories. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)