EU Global Gateway support to strengthen transport and trade between Africa and Europe

Targeted and tailored investments could significantly enhance mobility and trade efficiency across the African continent. A recent study by the Joint Research Centre assessed the potential impact of development initiatives in 11 strategic corridors running through Africa, aiming to strengthen transport and trade efficiency, reduce the carbon footprint and protect biodiversity, enhance digitalisation, improve accessibility, unlock productive areas and support value chains.  

The assessment reveals that investments in transport and accessibility would deliver the most prominent results, alongside actions reducing the carbon footprint and preserving biodiversity. Targeted support to productivity, especially in West Africa, could also generate substantial benefits. Digitalisation, on the other hand, appears to pose more challenges. 

The envisaged transport corridors run in over 30 African countries and were announced in February 2022 at the European Union – African Union summit in Brussels as part of the investment package of the Global Gateway – the EU’s strategy to boost smart, clean and secure connections in digital, energy and transport sectors across the world. 

List of envisaged corridors  

1. Abidjan-Lagos (West Africa) – Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria;
2. Abidjan-Ouagadougou (West Africa) – Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso;
3. Praia-Dakar-Abidjan (West Africa) – Cabo Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire;
4. Cotonou-Niamey (West Africa): Benin, Niger;
5. Libreville-Kribi-Douala-N’Djamena (Central Africa) – São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Chad;
6. Douala-Kribi-Bangui-Kisangani-Kampala (Central Africa) – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda;
7. Dar es Salaam-Nairobi-Addis Ababa-Berbera-Djibouti (East Africa) – Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti;
8. Mombasa-Kisangani (East Africa) – Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo;
9. Maputo-Gaborone-Walvis Bay-Lüderitz (Southern Africa) – Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Namibia;
10. Durban-Lusaka-Lubumbashi (Southern Africa) – South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo;
11. Cairo-Khartoum-Juba-Kampala (North and East Africa) – Egypt, Soudan, South Sudan and Uganda. The assessment of this corridor has been postponed.
12. Lobito-Kolwezi-Lubumbashi-Solwezi-Ndola (Southern Africa) – Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia. 

Improving transport and accessibility appears to be the most promising area for investment in all corridors. The assessment results from the combination of characteristics such as fast population growth, high congestion in and between urban centres, limited access to sanitation, water, education and health services, scarce transport networks, long drive times, and low natural (e.g. floods) and man-related (e.g. conflicts) risks. 

All corridors demonstrate promising potential for possible interventions to reduce carbon footprint and preserve biodiversity. This is due to the combination of CO2 pollution sources, transport-related CO2 emissions, low presence of forest coverage and fast population growth.  

Digitalisation appears to be the most challenging objective, since this effort requires the combination of pre-existing infrastructural development, low exposure to natural and/or man-related risks, and fast population growth. The analysis highlighted that improving fibre network could be more beneficial in densely populated areas (such as coastal zones, urban centres), and along existing roads and railways, while mobile network (antennas) would be more efficient in less populated, remote and rural areas, as well as in protected natural areas. The combination of fixed (fibre) and mobile (antennas) networks could also be considered on a case-by-case basis.  

The most significant variation was detected with regard to unlocking productive areas. In this case, productive areas (with e.g. mineral extractions sites or cropland) that are under-connected display the highest potential for improvement. A potentially highly productive West African cluster, encompassing the four regional corridors, emerges out of this analysis. 

Background 

The European Commission’s political guidelines envisage new clean trade and investment partnerships, intended to help secure critical minerals, raw materials and clean energy along diversified and resilient supply chains. Strengthening the partnership with Africa entails investment through the Global Gateway in transport corridors, ports, renewable energy, green hydrogen production and raw material value chains. 

In this framework, identifying and developing key strategic corridors in Africa is an opportunity to deepen the Africa-EU partnership. 

The analysis of these 11 strategic corridors aims to help prioritise investments (by EU Delegations, European Investment Bank, EU countries, and other international financial institutions) that can have the highest, mutually beneficial impact. 

The corridors are also expected to support territorial development, both rural and urban, through reliable transport and logistics networks, services, and digital and energy infrastructure. 

Related links

JRC report: Global Gateway Support to Transport Corridors in Africa – Consolidated Report

European Union – African Union summit

EU-Africa: Global Gateway Investment Package