The Lobito Corridor from Angola to Zambia's copperfields was the first example cited by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels in October a two-day event attended by South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa and Rwanda's president Paul Kagame demonstrating that large-scale infrastructural investments attract interest...
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Since then a series of EU leaders including Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have expressed support for green debt swaps...
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Meanwhile the Lobito Corridor rail network was cited by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 9 October as ‘one of the most ambitious' initiatives so far of the programme...
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EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a meeting of German business leaders on 18 September that her team was in trade talks with Pretoria as part of the EU's attempts to reduce its own reliance on transatlantic trade...
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The 21 August framework agreement between the US and the EU which sets out the deal on tariffs and other trade matters agreed by US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promises ‘additional flexibilities' for American firms under CBAM without spelling out the detail...
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In a letter circulated to governments ahead of an EU leaders' summit on 25 June European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pointed to data from the EU's statistics agency Eurostat showing that departures from Libya accounted for 93% of illegal border crossings in the first six months of 2025 with an increase of 7% on the Central Mediterranean route and a 173% increase of arrivals to Greece from eastern Libya...
To some scepticism Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni used a ‘Mattei Plan' summit co-hosted with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome to promise to halve the debts of low-middle income African nations...
Agreements with Egypt Tunisia and Mauritania worth over €8bn were signed in the final year of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's first term offering investment in infrastructure projects mainly energy and budget support for migration control (AC Vol 64 No 15 Saïed wins €1 billion windfall in EU migration deal)...
As the new United States administration targets South Africa on policy and the European Union on tariffs it has triggered an opposite reaction – bringing President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria closer to President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on a host of diplomatic and security issues...
A severe bout of pneumonia put a hold on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's plans to visit Morocco last week but nothing it appears can halt the momentum for more migrant control deals with Morocco and its neighbours...