Forum of Cities and Regions for International Partnerships opens

Three-day event focuses on the role of cities and regions in shaping the EU's flagship global investment strategy.

Local and regional leaders from across the globe will meet in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 8-10 December to explore how cities and regions can ensure that the European Union's Global Gateway strategy delivers EU investments that align with local communities' sustainable-development goals.

The forum of Cities and Regions for International Partnerships, which is organised by the CoR and the European Commission (Directorate General for International Partnerships), provides a meeting point for EU local and regional administrations and regions and cities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the EU's neighbourhood. The forum, whose title this year is 'Localising Global Gateway', will highlight existing examples of how local and regional authorities are ensuring that EU investment is aligned with local needs and sustainability goals, and it will also encourage new partnerships between regions and cities in the EU and on other continents.

The Global Gateway is the EU's flagship strategy to fund smart, clean, and secure links in the digital, energy and transport sectors and to strengthen health, education, and research systems worldwide. Funding available under the strategy helps local administrations to tailor investment to local needs, strengthen governance, and drive progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). EU institutions, development banks, and representatives of civil society and the private sector will be among other contributors to the Global Gateway that will be present at the forum of Cities and Regions for International Partnerships.

Panel sessions - including a strategic debate between local and regional authorities and EU institutions on the Global Gateway and sub-national partnerships - will be webstreamed on the webpage of the forum of Cities and Regions for International Partnerships. The agenda can also be found on the webpage of the forum; a summary of recommendations from the forum will be added subsequently.

The forum of Cities and Regions for International Partnerships will be followed, at 3 pm on 10 December, by a debate in the CoR's plenary session on local-government practices that can contribute to the Global Gateway strategy, drawing in part on conclusions from the forum. Delegates from the forum - from Asia, Africa, and Latin America - will address CoR members. CoR members will then adopt an opinion with recommendations on 'The Localisation of the EU's Global Gateway'. The CoR's rapporteur is Jaume Duch Guillot (ES/PES), the Catalan government's minister for the European Union and foreign action.

More information:

• About the forum of Cities and Regions for International Partnerships: This is the ninth edition of the forum. Co-organised by the European Committee of the Regions and the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships, the forum of Cities and Regions for International Partnerships provides a platform connecting local and regional administrations from the EU and partner countries, development banks, the UN system, civil society, and private actors. The forum serves as a space for policy dialogue, networking, training, and the launch of new partnerships.
• About the Global Gateway: The EU's main external cooperation and investment strategy, the Global Gateway strategy links infrastructure investment with improvements in governance, planning, and inclusiveness in its effort to respond to global needs and to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The EU is seeking to implement a '360-degree approach' to ensure that the Global Gateway evolves into an integrated development strategy, including by involving local and regional authorities, which are crucial for achieving two-thirds of SDG targets. The CoR believes that a stronger role for local and regional authorities will ensure greater transparency, local ownership, better impacts, and more inclusive governance. The Global Gateway initiative, which was launched in 2021, aims to mobilise €300 billion in funding between 2021 and 2027 for projects and programmes chiefly in the areas of digital, energy, transport, health, education, and research. To maximise impact, the Global Gateway coordinates and leverages EU instruments, combines the resources and capacities of EU Member States and financial institutions as part of a Team Europe approach, and seeks to mobile private-sector investment.