European firms hold the largest stock of foreign investment in Africa, over €250bn, but only 10% of all new investment to African companies in 2024 came from Europe. [2] China and Gulf Arab states have spent the past decade increasing state-backed private investment to build market share across the continent. The EU’s Global Gateway, its flagship strategy to mobilise up to €300bn in global infrastructure investment by 2027, was meant to give these efforts a common framework. Italy and France are responding by using public money to pull in private investment and international lenders. Partners such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank and the UAE add even more to the pot.