On 24th October 2023, the European Commission announced the 57 members of the Global Gateway Civil Society and Local Authorities Dialogue Platform, and the platform held its first meeting with Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, at the margins of the Global Gateaway Forum. The platform will assist the European Commission in ensuring that Global Gateway as a values-based strategy contributes to sustainable investments, delivering on its goals in line with its principles.

Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen said: “Global Gateway is the EU’s contribution to putting the Sustainable Development Goals back on track. Civil society and local authorities are key partners in achieving Agenda 2030. Therefore,the launch of the Global Gateway Civil Society and Local Authorities Dialogue Platform marks an important milestone in the strategic engagement of civil society and local authorities on Global Gateway, enhancing its overall effectiveness and sustainability by feeding in additional perspectives, experience, and expertise.”

The dialogue platform will bring together civil society organisations (CSOs), local authorities (LAs), and regional, global and European civil society to exchange on horizontal policy issues, including addressing inequalities, in context of the Global Gateway strategy.

The platform will be a space for civil society and local authorities to provide feedback on Global Gateway rollout within the different investment priorities and geographic contexts, and to exchange with the European Commission on opportunities to engage in country-level Global Gateway partnerships, complementing consultations locally.

Background

The dialogue platform has been established as part of Global Gateway governance, as outlined in the Joint Communication on the Global Gateway. It is set up within the existing framework for European Commission consultations with CSOs and LAs, the EU Policy Forum on Development (PFD).

The members were selected following a call for applications launched in September 2023. They include a mix of CSO networks, platforms, social partners, professional and business associations and associations of LAs, all working in the area of international development. They include, but are not limited to, women’s, youth, education, climate and environment organisations.

The members commit to platform activities for a period of two years and convene in a plenary up to two times per year.

This story was originally published here