On Thursday 9 October, at the Global Gateway forum in Brussels, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced a new €618 million ‘Team Europe’ investment package designed to accelerate the energy transition in Africa.
“Africa has everything it needs to become a global leader in clean energy – vision, talent and abundant natural resources”, she said.
The funding announced is intended to support electrification projects, modernise electricity grids and increase access to renewable energy in several African countries, namely Kenya (€55 million), Uganda (€60 million), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (€90.14 million), Mauritania (€125 million), Nigeria (€20 million), Cabo Verde (€39 million), via the Zambia-Tanzania interconnection (€30 million), and Togo (€199 million).
This new financial support from the EU is part of the ‘Scaling Up Renewables in Africa’ campaign, co-organised with the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, and coordinated with the international advocacy organisation Global Citizen.
150 companies present in Brussels at the forum, which “smells of money”. Nearly 150 companies gathered on the first day of the Global Gateway investment forum organised by the Commission. “Just as I walked in, I could smell money”, Mr Ramaphosa joked to Ms von der Leyen, before calling for European financial commitments to be “truly transformational and empowering” for Africa.
“Global Gateway is based on mutual benefits”, stressed the President of the Commission. “Our initial goal was to mobilise €300 billion in five years. But today, we have already hit that target. In four years, we have already mobilised more than €306 billion”, she pointed out.
Referring to a new “era of highly competitive and transactional global politics”, Ms von der Leyen called for coordinated efforts with the private sector. “To the CEOs and investors. (...) Tell us what will unlock new projects, and give you the confidence to take them forward”, she declared at the opening of the forum.
Strategic partnership with the World Bank. As part of its Global Gateway investment strategy, the European Commission launched a strategic partnership with the World Bank Group on Wednesday 8 October to launch “a new generation” of connectivity projects.
The first portfolio of projects includes 18 investments in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.
“This new framework will guide our steering, governance and monitoring of joint projects in areas such as energy, transport and digital infrastructure”, explained Ms von der Leyen.
The 18 initial projects were selected for their potential to attract private capital and their expected impact on job creation, productivity and regional integration, the World Bank Group said in a press release.
Among the projects selected are the Trans-Caspian transport corridor linking the EU and Central Asia (see EUROPE 13338/13), the Kambar-Ata dam project in Kyrgyzstan, the Mpatamanga hydroelectric storage project in Malawi (MHSP) and the interconnection project between Zambia and Tanzania in Africa.
See the list of 18 projects: https://aeur.eu/f/iuz
The Global Gateway forum also saw the signing of a series of other development projects, ranging from the implementation package for the Just Transition Partnership in Vietnam (see EUROPE 13552/20) to regional electricity integration in Latin America and the Caribbean. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit and Pauline Denys)