The European Union expects to mobilise more than €400 billion in investments under its Global Gateway initiative by 2027, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Brussels on Thursday, marking an uplift from the original €300 billion headline figure set for 2021–2027.
The announcement was made at the Global Gateway Forum, which is taking place in the Belgian capital on 9–10 October.
Global Gateway is the EU’s external investment framework aimed at financing infrastructure and human capital projects in partner countries, with a stated focus on the Global South. It was introduced in 2021 with the intention of mobilising €300 billion through a “Team Europe” approach combining EU budget guarantees, member-state finance, and lending from European public development banks. The Commission has positioned the programme as a rules-based, transparent alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
According to von der Leyen, the EU will also open a Global Gateway Investment Hub to serve as a single-entry platform for companies to propose projects. The platform is meant to streamline engagement for private investors and implementing partners by centralising information and contact points. The announcement complements efforts to deepen cooperation with multilateral lenders; on Wednesday, the European Commission and the World Bank Group agreed a framework to steer and monitor joint projects in areas including energy, transport and digital infrastructure with the aim of crowding in private capital.
The initiative’s sectoral priorities remain energy, transport, education, and research, alongside digital connectivity and health systems. In Africa, the EU has previously set out an investment package of around €150 billion, accounting for roughly half of the overall programme envelope. Implementation has expanded to Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, with projects ranging from electricity interconnections and renewable generation to backbone fibre networks and port and rail upgrades.
Securing supplies of critical raw materials (CRMs) is a related strand of Global Gateway policy. The EU has sought to diversify the sourcing of minerals needed for batteries, wind turbines and semiconductors, among other technologies. This is anchored in the Critical Raw Materials Act and a series of bilateral partnerships designed to reduce strategic dependencies while supporting processing and recycling capacity. Recent agreements include those with Australia and other producer countries.
The Commission’s push comes amid heightened competition for infrastructure finance and supply-chain resilience. European institutions have argued that combining EU budget guarantees with development-bank lending and member-state resources can leverage larger volumes of private investment, particularly where projects are underpinned by regulatory reforms and transparent procurement. The new collaboration framework with the World Bank is intended to align project pipelines and strengthen governance and monitoring in order to improve bankability.
The 2025 Global Gateway Forum gathers government representatives, international financial institutions and private-sector participants in Brussels. The two-day agenda is focused on advancing connectivity and investment in partner regions, as well as showcasing ongoing projects financed under the programme’s first years. The Commission’s public materials for Global Gateway note that, in 2023, the EU launched dozens of projects across digital, energy and transport, alongside initiatives to bolster health, education and research systems.
Since launch, Global Gateway has been presented as complementary to the EU’s broader “de-risking” strategy, which seeks to limit exposure to single-supplier dependencies without pursuing wholesale decoupling. In practical terms, this includes support for partner-country capacity building, regulatory convergence, and standards-based procurement, as well as investment in strategic corridors. European think-tank analysis has highlighted the role of Global Gateway in the competition for Africa’s critical minerals, where the EU is attempting to expand partnerships while ensuring environmental and social safeguards.
Thursday’s uplift to “over €400 billion” by 2027 indicates that the Commission expects higher leverage and additional commitments in the programme’s final two years. The figure represents mobilised investment rather than direct EU budget spending and will depend on the pace of project preparation, reforms in partner countries, and private-sector participation. The Investment Hub’s performance—together with cooperation with multilateral lenders—will be central to how quickly new pipelines can be assembled and financed.
With the Forum underway in Brussels, attention will turn to the detail of new project announcements, the geographical balance of investments, and evidence of crowding-in private finance at scale. The Commission’s stated goal is to deliver strategic infrastructure that supports sustainable growth in partner countries while advancing EU priorities on energy transition, digitalisation and resilient supply chains. The updated €400-plus billion mobilisation target sets a new benchmark against which delivery will be assessed through to the end of 2027.
