Brussels Courts West Africa: EU Pushes Regional and Bilateral Ties, Backed by Big Promises

BRUSSELS/ABUJA – The European Union is pressing to deepen its footprint in West Africa through a mix of regional partnerships, bilateral deals and large investment pledges. Africa remains the centre of gravity of its Global Gateway strategy.

The regional track: ECOWAS
West Africa is the EU's largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the EU is West Africa's biggest. Trade between the two regions was worth €64 billion in 2024, according to the EU.

West African countries, led by Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Ghana, supply more than 70% of EU imports of cocoa and cocoa products.The EU has initialled an Economic Partnership Agreement with 16 West African states, ECOWAS and the WAEMU bloc.

Until that regional deal is adopted, "stepping stone" agreements with Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana have been in provisional application since 2016. In 2023, the EU signed financing agreements worth more than €210 million with ECOWAS, covering trade, migration, energy and agriculture.

At the 10th Nigeria-EU Business Forum in June 2026, EU and ECOWAS representatives jointly pitched Nigeria as a gateway to West Africa's more than 400 million consumers and the 1.4 billion-strong AfCFTA market. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas welcomed EU support for infrastructure such as the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor.

The promises: Global Gateway
Global Gateway's Africa-Europe Investment Package earmarks about €150 billion to strengthen partnerships with Africa.

In West Africa, the EU held a business forum on transport and strategic corridors in Abidjan from March 30 to April 1, 2026, aiming to boost investment along the Abidjan-Lagos and Abidjan-Ouagadougou corridors. A subsea cable extension to West Africa, with a first landing in Dakar, Senegal, is also envisaged.

The bilateral track
Côte d'Ivoire: The EU is its biggest trading partner, accounting for a third of its foreign trade, and the biggest investor, according to the EU delegation. The Commission has also launched negotiations for a Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement with Abidjan.

Ghana: Spanish military personnel have trained Ghanaian forces in Accra under the EU Security and Defence Initiative for the Gulf of Guinea, part of a wider EU security assistance programme that also covers Benin and Côte d'Ivoire.

Reality check
Analysts urge caution. A European think-tank blog observed that Global Gateway has raised expectations as well as anxiety among partners, and that the flagship projects are mostly concentrated in a few corridors.

An academic study of the EPA projected small overall effects, positive for Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire but negative for Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

The EU also has a political challenge in the Sahel, where it has lined up with ECOWAS on transition governments.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. ( USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880

Sources
European Commission trade page, "West Africa" (https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/countries-and-regions/west-africa_en)

Tribune Online, "EU, ECOWAS pitch Nigeria as gateway to 400m West African, 1.4b African consumer market," June 2026 (https://tribuneonlineng.com/eu-ecowas-pitch-nigeria-as-gateway-to-400m-west-african-1-4b-african-consumer-market/)

European Commission, ECOWAS financing agreements, Oct. 2023 (https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/news-and-events/news/commissioner-urpilainen-and-ecowas-president-touray-launch-major-package-stabilise-region-and-drive-2023-10-19_en)

European Commission, Global Gateway (https://commission.europa.eu/topics/international-partnerships/global-gateway_en)

Investment Package (https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/policies/global-gateway/initiatives-sub-saharan-africa/eu-africa-global-gateway-investment-package_en)

EU Regional Business Forum, Abidjan (https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/eu-business-fora/eu-regional-business-forum-west-africa-corridors-2026-03-30_en)

EEAS, "The European Union and Côte d'Ivoire" (https://www.eeas.europa.eu/cote-divoire/european-union-and-cote-divoire_en?s=196)

EEAS Côte d'Ivoire delegation page on Ghana training (https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/c%C3%B4te-divoire_en)

EU trade negotiations page, SIFA with Côte d'Ivoire (https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/negotiations-and-agreements_en)

Council of the EU, "EU-Africa relations" (https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-africa/)

ETTG, "The Global Gateway Three Years Later" (https://ettg.eu/global-gateway-three-years-later/)

"The European Union-West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement: Small Impact and New Questions" (https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/hal-02149416.html)