By Ndawula Shemei

 The Global Gateway infrastructure initiative, is by all means and purposes, revolutionary.

It marks a radical shift from the hitherto established foreign assistance structure between Europe and African countries like Uganda from a system reliant of foreign developmental, social and medical aid to a focus on foreign direct investment in key areas like infrastructure development, green energy transition and economic transformation with a price tag of €150 billion earmarked for the initiative between 2021 and 2027.

This; in the eyes of the Ugandan public is a very welcome change for it sets a precedence where Uganda can cooperate with historical European partners like Italy, France, Germany and Denmark in areas of mutual interest without the patronizing aid structure that has characterized many of our previous aid agreements.

This recent bid to promote sustainable development and economic growth by the European Union through the Global Gateway infrastructure initiative in Uganda and Africa is aimed at improving the country's infrastructure, including roads, railways, airports, and energy systems which will undoubtedly transform the country's economic landscape

One of the key areas of focus for the Global Gateway Initiative is the transportation sector. The initiative aims to improve the country's road network by constructing and rehabilitating several kilometers of roads across the country. This will not only make it easier for people and goods to move around the country but will also reduce the cost of doing business, making Uganda a more attractive destination for investors.

In addition to improving the road network, the Global Gateway initiative will also focus on improving the country's energy infrastructure. The European Union and its Team Europe partners plan to invest in renewable energy projects, such as hydropower, solar, and wind power, which will help to increase access to electricity in rural areas.

This will have a significant impact on the lives of the people living in these areas, as it will provide them with reliable and sustainable energy sources. The initiative will also support the development of Uganda's private sector by providing funding and technical assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises, a valuable asset in the creation of jobs and in boosting economic growth.

Uganda, and the East African region are best-positioned countries which can leverage their unique factors to benefit from this project. It is estimated that East Africa is the fastest growing region economically on the African continent with an average GDP growth of 5%. This makes the region one of the best innovation and progressive industry hubs for foreign investors and governments.

Uganda in particular has got unbridled development potential especially when it comes to natural resource utilization, agriculture and green energy initiatives with over 50% of the East African arable land found within its borders as well as little variability in temperatures, two constant rain seasons annually and an abundance of fertile soils.

This is why Uganda is currently the largest sugar producer in Africa and the 10^th largest coffee producer in the world (2^nd on the continent).  With such potential an inch of investment made in Uganda can quite plausibly stretch a mile of profits with the Global Gateway initiative.

Additionally, with an estimated 7 million rural homesteads in Uganda having immediate access to sufficient land to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for at least ten people, it is possible for commercialized and sustainable agriculture to create several millions of jobs for Uganda’s young population which makes it a perfect destination for foreign direct investment.

This is why at the Dubai Expo earlier this year the country was able to attract investment commitments worth an excess of $650m in various sectors of the economy.

With Team Europe’s commitment to catalyze the green energy transition throughout the world Uganda and East Africa are pivotal ally’s in this quest. There have already been achievements Uganda can write home about through the Global Gateway initiative with the European Union last March releasing €152 million in grant financing for the promotion of commercial forestry in the country as well as facilitating gender inclusion in the national economy through the Gender for Development Uganda (G4DU) project.

However, an important lesson the European Union and its partners in Team Europe may learn from their counterparts, the Chinese who have in the last 10 years implemented the hugely successful Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The high-quality public good (BRI) was put forward by the Chinese

 President Xi Jinping in 2013, and is jointly built by involved partners whose benefits are shared by over 149 countries and more than 32 international organisations. Without using the project to meddle or influence affairs of other countries, for the last 10 years, BRI has seen investments of close to one trillion USD, supported over 3000 cooperation projects globally and created over 420,000 jobs for citizens in countries the project has routes.

The World Bank estimates that despite some shortcomings, over 40 million people globally have benefited from China’s BRI.

Therefore, European Union can borrow some lessons from China’s implementation of BRI such as upholding the principle of non-intervention within the domestic affairs of sovereign states during implementation of the project. This is one particular ramification that has foiled many previous well inspired foreign initiatives especially on the African continent for they are often perceived as “foreign interventions” because of the “strings that come attached”.

More recently this has been seen in a number of cases where some African states and leaders have shown reluctance in embracing the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative championed by the United States of America and indeed some European countries for several principles of the initiative involve inspiring domestic policy change within sovereign nations.

The European Union's Global Gateway Infrastructure Initiative can prove to be a game-changer for Uganda. With the country's infrastructure set to receive a significant boost, Uganda is poised to reap the benefits of increased economic growth and development. The initiative is a testament to the European Union and member states like Italy, Germany and France’s commitment to supporting developing countries and promoting sustainable development around the world.

Shemei Ndawula is a Research Fellow at the Development Watch Centre think tank.