Why Local Governments Are Vital in Implementing the Global Gateway
Local and regional authorities are are essential to turning the EU’s Global Gateway ambitions into concrete, sustainable results. Their local knowledge, ownership, and coordination ensure projects meet real needs and gain community support. These issues stood at the centre of the forum “Cities and Regions for International Partnerships – Localising Global Gateway”, where representatives gathered to address how local and regional authorities can more effectively shape and implement the EU’s global investment agenda.
The Global Gateway is the European Union’s strategy to support sustainable and reliable infrastructure development around the world. By investing in digital connectivity, clean energy, transport networks, health, and education, the initiative aims to foster long-term partnerships that are transparent, sustainable, and mutually beneficial. Yet the success of this global strategy hinges not only on high-level agreements or financial commitments—it depends fundamentally on the involvement and capacity of local and regional authorities, where global ambitions are translated into concrete improvements for communities.
Local authorities play a decisive role because they understand reality on the ground. They know which roads, energy systems, or digital connections matter most to residents and businesses, and they can identify social or environmental risks early on. This ensures that Global Gateway projects meet genuine needs rather than imposing solutions that do not fit local contexts. Moreover, implementation always happens locally. Whether the project involves a digital corridor, a new transport link, or a renewable energy installation, it requires local permits, land-use decisions, coordination with utilities, and sustained engagement with citizens. No international strategy can move forward without this local groundwork.
Long-term sustainability also depends on local ownership. Local governments and communities are ultimately responsible for maintaining infrastructure, integrating new systems into development plans, and ensuring that the benefits continue well beyond the initial investment. Without their engagement, projects risk underuse, deterioration, or a lack of community support. Trust and legitimacy must be built at local level as well. People are far more likely to welcome a major project when they feel informed, consulted, and heard—reducing delays, political resistance, and social tensions.
Importantly, the Global Gateway’s broader economic impact is also rooted locally. It is in cities and regions that SMEs join supply chains, workers access new jobs, and training or innovation initiatives take shape. Global connectivity only fulfills its promise when it translates into local prosperity. Finally, local and regional authorities play a crucial coordinating role, bridging national, European, and international strategies while aligning public and private partners. This coordination ensures that projects complement one another and contribute to wider development goals.
Platforms for cooperation and partnerships
These issues stood at the centre of the forum “Cities and Regions for International Partnerships – Localising Global Gateway”, where representatives gathered to address how local and regional authorities can more effectively shape and implement the EU’s global investment agenda.
Co-organised by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), the 9th edition of the Forum underscored the indispensable role of cities and regions in delivering Global Gateway projects. It brought together local and regional leaders already engaged—or eager to engage—in flagship initiatives, offering new avenues for cooperation between EU territories and partner countries.
Linked to the CoR plenary session in which the opinion “The Localisation of the EU’s Global Gateway” was adopted, the Forum reinforced the political backing for a stronger role of local and regional authorities in global partnerships. Beyond policy discussions, it also provided a unique space to forge direct cooperation between EU and non-EU local governments, further strengthening the Team Europe approach and ensuring that the Global Gateway is grounded where it matters most: in the daily realities of local communities.
SALAR International´s Managing Director, Ryan Knox was there:
“This is the first real effort I have seen to engage LRAs from all parts of the world in a tangible dialogue about how to create conditions for a 360 degree approach whereby the LRAs themselves have a clear and defined role in the implementation of the Global Gateway strategy. There is a long way to go in terms of creating an architecture that will deliver results. But we should all take our hats off to DG INTPA for initiating this important conversation. We will continue to invest in this discussion so that the Global Gateway creates space for our partners in other countries to deliver real results that impact on people’s lives.” he says.