On 9-10 October, the second Global Gateway Forum will be held in Brussels. Organised by the European Commission, it promises to be a carefully stage-managed success story with little space for the civil society perspective, despite the major implications for the EU’s development and energy policy.

One year after the launch of the report "Who profits from the Global Gateway? The EU’s new strategy for development cooperation, and on the eve of the Forum, ActionAid EU, CONCORD Europe, Counter Balance and Eurodad are organising an event to discuss the real implications of the Global Gateway strategy.

The panel will include voices from civil society in the Global South and the European Parliament. This will provide an alternative to the official narrative, spotlighting the impacts of energy, mining, climate and infrastructure projects on the ground.

Breakfast will be provided at the beginning of the event.

Speakers

• Frank Vanaerschot, Director, Counter Balance
• Kaisha Atakhanova, Director of Regional Programs, ARGO
• Hikma Bachegour, Ph.D in Environmental Economics Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University Fez, Morocco and representative of MENAFem
• Veronica Fadzai Zano, Regional Program Advisor-Extractive Industry, Oxfam Southern Africa (online)
• Udo Bullmann MEP, Socialists and Democrats (online)
• Magnus Guldberg, Permanent Representation of Denmark to the European Union, Embassy Secretary & Chair of the Working Party on Global Gateway
• Jean Saldanha, Director, European Network on Debt and Development - Eurodad

Moderated by Shada Islam (commentator on EU affairs)

Agenda

8:45 - Registrations and breakfast

9:15 - Welcome and introduction by Tanya Cox, CONCORD Europe, followed by panel discussion moderated by Shada Islam, commentator on EU Affairs:

- Frank Vanaerschot, Counter Balance 

- Veronica Fadzai Zano, Oxfam South Africa (online)  

- Kaisha Atakhanova, ARGO

- Hikma Bachegour, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University/MENAFem 

- Rep of the Danish EU Presidency 

- Udo Bullmann, MEP Socialists and Democrats (online) 

10:15 - Q&A with the audience, including online 

10:40 - Closing remarks by panellists

11:00 - Conclusion by Jean Saldanha, Eurodad 

Registrations are closed - if you are a journalist and would like to attend the event, please send an email to [email protected]

Read the report "Who profits from the Global Gateway? The EU’s new strategy for development cooperation"