EU Statement – UN General Assembly: Informal dialogue on promoting sustainable development through infrastructure connectivity

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Excellencies, colleagues,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina* and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.

First of all, I would like to thank you Mr. President for convening the first UN Sustainability Week. This week is a testimony to the UN's commitment to the SDGs and to achieving a just and sustainable twin green and digital transition, to the benefit of all. We emphasise the importance and interdependence of all the SDGs and their vision for a more sustainable world by 2030. Today in particular, we are reaffirming our commitment to SDG 9 and infrastructure connectivity to achieve sustainable development. Allow me to recall that this meeting was mandated by resolution 77/282 adopted last year at the initiative of eight EU Member States, and which gathered support from 84 UN Members.

I think we can all agree on the central role of quality, resilient, reliable and sustainable infrastructure for governments in delivering the SDGs, the importance of ensuring affordable and equitable access to this infrastructure for all, and the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, promoting economic recovery, creating employment, and reducing the systemic risk of cascading failure during and after disasters. Yet too many countries are still deprived of the infrastructure necessary to springboard their sustainable development.

Global Gateway, the EU strategy to connect the world through sustainable investments and reliable partnerships, is our response to this challenge. Through sustainable infrastructure investments, coupled with soft measures to improve the business climate and regulatory environment, it will contribute to achieving the SDGs worldwide.

The European Union set up the Global Gateway Initiative in 2022 to narrow the global gap in infrastructure investment. It has already contributed to improved trade with international partners and increased investments in digital innovation, green energy, adaptation to climate change, transport, healthcare, education and research. The goal is to improve the way countries work together and do business in these important sectors.

By boosting smart, clean, economically beneficial, financially viable, and secure links across the world, Global Gateway constitutes a sustainable offer and partnership for investmentsaiming to meet partner countries' infrastructure needs. This Team Europe joint effort aims to mobilise up to EUR 300 billion of investments by 2027.

Many of the new global investments will involve big infrastructure improvements in water, sanitation, mobile connections, clean energy, the local production of medicine and medical technologies, higher education, as well as sustainable transport.

In less than two years, we have already mobilised investments and leveraged partnerships to kick-start a number of ambitious projects. Let me name a few:

In Jordan, the EU is investing in a desalination plant to pipe drinking water to Amman, which faces water shortages that are exacerbated by climate change.

In Senegal, we are investing in the upgrade of Dakar's Public Transport Network to help the country tackle environmental challenges by providing cleaner, safe and affordable public transport.

EU renewable energy investments are supportingBrazil, Peru and Chile in their goal of advancing the green transition.

In Moldova, the EU is investing in the modernisation, digitalisation and expansion of the electricity distribution grid, including in the capital Chisinau.

In Central Asia, where many countries are landlocked, the EU is fostering investments in regional transport infrastructure and connectivity, aiming to transform the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor into a cutting-edge, multimodal, and efficient route, connecting Europe and Central Asia.

In Fiji, Global Gateway focuses on increasing the hydropower generation capacity to reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels and its greenhouse gas emissions, and to help Fiji meet the rising demand for electricity.

With additional Global Gateway digital flagships in 2024, our partnership model is also investing heavily to bolster connectivity and support the digital transformation. The projects focus on both hard infrastructure, and technical assistance on digital regulation, governance, digital interoperability, cybersecurity and capacity-building.

In the Mediterranean for instance, the EU is building 7 100 km of high-speed fibre-optic cable underwater, to offer better internet access to universities and research institutions in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt,thereby boosting the region's capacity for home-grown innovation.

Soon, DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique will be connected by 10 000 km of fibre-optic cables as part of a regional fibre-optic backbone. This project will improve the lives of around 90 million people, providing direct connectivity to up to 3 000 schools, 1 500 hospitals and 1 200 government institutions.

The EU is also working with the African Union to support the identification of investments in green and secure data infrastructure in Africa through the Digital Investment Facility.

Dear colleagues, this is the kind of investment we need to move from vision to action. But a cascade of crises has now set back progress towards our SDGs. The European Union is always open to stronger partnerships, and calls on Member States to scale up their investments and look into innovative financing solutions to de-risk private sector investments in order to help address the financing gap for quality, resilient, reliable and sustainable infrastructure worldwide. Let's raise our ambition together.

Thank you.

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