President Paul Kagame has issued a call for world leaders to embrace a new model of cooperation between Africa and Europe, urging partnerships built on equality, shared risk, and mutual benefit, as global economic and political shifts reshape traditional approaches to globalisation.
The Head of State was speaking on Thursday, October 9, at the second edition of the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels, Belgium, where he joined high-level representatives from governments, financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society to explore innovative strategies for scaling up Global Gateway investments in partner countries.
ALSO READ: PHOTOS: Kagame in Brussels for Global Gateway Forum
Kagame noted that the world could not afford to turn inward amid changing geopolitical dynamics, emphasizing that economies and security are now too intertwined to be reversed. He, however, warned that integration must be equitable for growth to be sustainable.
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“A good partnership does not create dependency. It creates value,” he said, emphasizing that Africa’s experience had shown that conditional or one-sided cooperation fails to deliver transformation.
Kagame outlined Africa’s priorities, including infrastructure, technology, and industrial capacity, as the foundation for competitive trade and lasting prosperity.
Europe, in turn, stands to gain from Africa’s expanding market, young talent, and critical resources needed for green and digital transitions, he maintained.
“Our interests are aligned,” Kagame said, adding that the Global Gateway framework offers a platform to translate those shared interests into “sustained mutual growth” if both sides remain consistent and pragmatic.
He pointed to the BioNTech vaccine manufacturing facility taking shape in Kigali, supported by the European Union through the Team Europe initiative, as a model of productive cooperation.
The plant, the first of its kind in Africa, he argued, will strengthen regional vaccine production and reduce import dependency.
ALSO READ: Rwanda unveils BioNTech’s first vaccine manufacturing plant in Africa
The 300,000 square metres facility is based on the company’s digitally enabled modular manufacturing units called BioNTainers, designed to manufacture a range of mRNA-based vaccines.
Kagame urged that future financing mechanisms must mobilise private investment and empower local ecosystems to sustain progress.
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He commended the European Union for championing the Global Gateway platform and reaffirmed Rwanda’s commitment to ensuring that such efforts yield measurable impact.
According to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, the global cooperation strategy launched to promote the twin energy and digital transitions has delivered even more than was intended.
“Our initial goal was to mobilise EUR 300 billion in five years. But today, we have already hit that target,” she said at the proceedings of the forum.
“In four years, we have already mobilised more than EUR 306 billion. And I am confident we will surpass EUR 400 billion by 2027,” Ursula von der Leyen added.
‘Enormous potential’
Cooperation between the European Union and Africa through the Global Gateway has enormous potential,” said Jao Manual Gonçalves Lourenço, President of Angola, who also doubles as the chairperson of the African Union (AU).
“At a time of deep interconnections, issues such as energy security, social inclusion, and climate change resilience become vitally important,” he added.
In his capacity as the AU chairperson, Lourenço pledged to “give more value to the raw materials that we have in Africa,” which are crucial for the twin transition.