The European Union stands at a critical junction in the international scramble to establish Europe–Africa commercial corridors. Morocco, Algeria and Egypt are the geopolitical gatekeepers in the competition for three emerging corridors: Morocco’s West Africa–Western Europe corridor, an Algeria-anchored Central Maghreb corridor and an Egypt-based East Africa-Eastern/Central Europe corridor. Undeterred by the Covid-19 pandemic, China, Russia, Turkey and the Arab Gulf states have expanded their economic investments in these countries, reshaping the configuration of the trans-Mediterranean corridors. North Africa’s leading foreign partners will be the countries that invest in local manufacturing on a strategically significant scale to create manufacturing value chains. The EU still retains a window of opportunity to influence the direction of Europe–Africa connectivity to promote European priorities and ensure European interests.

Paper prepared in the context of the New-Med Research Network, May 2021.

 

This publication first appeared on the IAI site. 

Read the full paper here.

Author: Michaël Tanchum

Photo by Clint Adair on Unsplash.

The views are those of the author and not necessarily those of ETTG.