President Ursula von der Leyen met with Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro during the Global Gateway Forum. The meeting reaffirmed the shared investment agenda on digital connectivity, energy, transport, and cooperation in security and the fight against drugs. Together, they highlighted the forward-looking partnership, creating opportunities across Colombia’s regions and contributing to shared prosperity between Europe and Latin America. President Petro is leading a delegation of seven ministers who will be present in several of the Global Gateway sectorial discussions.
Energy lies at the heart of the EU–Colombia partnership. Bilaterally, European investments are responsible for over 60% of renewable energy generation in the country with a potential to scale up a further 175 investment projects amounting to over €20 billion, plus potentially an additional 16 projects in renewable hydrogen amounting to approximately €48 billion. Furthermore, the Regional Electricity Integration bi-regional initiative supports deeper collaboration across Latin America and the Caribbean, combining technical assistance with 24 dedicated investment projects including the planned Panama-Colombia interconnection. Interconnectivity is key for a faster and more efficient rollout of renewable energy investments. Colombia plays a key role in this agenda which will link South and Central America and reinforce regional energy integration.
The EU-Colombia digital partnership goes beyond digital connectivity, focusing also on digital rights, governance and data sovereignty, with a new cooperation on supercomputing and high-performance computing (HPC). Directors of European and Latin American research centres will sign a joint letter of intent to enhance collaboration and link regional systems with the European HPC ecosystem under the EU-LAC Supercomputing Network for Artificial Intelligence.
The bi-regional platform connects existing infrastructures to expand access to advanced computing power and foster joint research. Coordinated by the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, the initiative strengthens scientific collaboration in areas such as climate modelling, drug discovery and artificial intelligence, with participation from 14 countries, including Colombia.
The high-level Colombian participation at the Global Gateway Forum is of particular importance in view of the upcoming 4th CELAC-EU Summit which will take place this year in Santa Marta, Colombia on 9-10 November under the Colombian presidency of CELAC. They also had a leading role in the 3rd EU-Caribbean Global Gateway Conference on Sargassum on October 8 as pro-tempore presidency of the Association of Caribbean States.
Background
EU-Colombia partnership
The European Union and Colombia are working together to advance sustainable and inclusive development. Through Global Gateway we are investing in peace, digitalisation, climate, energy, and transport, empowering women, youth, and minorities. The EU’s financial commitment for 2021-2027 is at least € 106 million of non-reimbursable cooperation which is leveraging multi-billion investments through Global Gateway.
Global Gateway Forum
The Global Gateway Forum brings together leaders from the European Union and across the globe, alongside key stakeholders from the private sector, civil society, thought leaders, financial institutions, and international organisations to promote global investment in infrastructure – hard and soft – to deliver on the SDGs and sustainable growth and resilience worldwide.
Global Gateway
Global Gateway is the EU’s positive offer to reduce the worldwide investment disparity and boost smart, clean and secure connections in digital, energy and transport sectors, and to strengthen health, education and research systems.
The Global Gateway strategy embodies a Team Europe approach that brings together the European Union, EU Member States, and European development finance institutions. Together, we aim to mobilise up to €300 billion in public and private investments from 2021 to 2027, creating essential links rather than dependencies, and closing the global investment gap.
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