Rule of Law and Accountability for Inclusive Investments

As part of its session on the “Importance of Rule of Law and Anti-corruption for Inclusive Investments”, WG 1 discussed the EU’s Global Gateway 360° Approach as a key priority for the EU and its Member States. Building on previous work on Anti-Corruption mainstreaming – including a dedicated guidance website – and people centered justice – supported by a practical guide –, the session explored how an integrated approach can strengthen governance, foster inclusive development, and support sustainable business environments. 

As Jakob Rieken, Co-Chair of Working Group 1 from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) stated during his report back to the audience: “Within all the discussions, the Global Gateway Strategy can feel like a Rorschach test—everyone interprets something different about it—so we need to build a shared narrative that bridges investment-speak and governance-speak. That narrative should define a distinctly democratic way of working—a brand and a practice—that shows how integrity, access to justice, and participation are baked into commercially viable pipelines.” 

Themes that emerged during the brainstorming session included:

- While the importance of rule of law and accountability for Global Gateway investments is widely recognized, it is equally important to focus on messaging, framing, and language to convey how these objectives can be achieved in practice. 

- The need to articulate clearly and tailor these messages to different audiences, such as the private sector or partner country communities, to highlight rule of law and anti-corruption tremendous benefits (e.g. bolstering legal certainty, dispute resolution, market efficiency, fair distribution of benefits, a level-playing field for business and responsiveness to people’s needs).

- Rule of law and accountability should not be reduced to their “ease of doing business” and be instrumentalized to conduct “business as usual” under a new narrative.

Sharing insights: Collaboration for impact

The thematic leads presented concrete tools and practical experiences to boost rule of law and anti-corruption reforms for GG investments: HiiL highlighted the central role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for people and their livelihood and how to provide tailored, low-cost, and community-based dispute resolution mechanisms to support with often faced legal problems.

Open Government Partnership (OGP) showed how they bring governments and CSOs together to promote transparent, participatory, accountable, and inclusive governance, through, for instance, establishing a public Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR), requiring companies to disclose their ultimate owner.

The Investment Support Programme for Least Developed Countries (ISP/LDCs) by IDLO provides demand-driven capacity building, technical and legal assistance, and negotiation support to strengthen LDCs’ ability to manage international investment.

Transparency International (TI) presented the Integrity Pact, a practical tool to prevent corruption in public contracting by creating a mutual agreement between the contracting authority and all bidders, overseen by an independent monitor, often a civil society organisation such as TI.

The Corruption in the Caribbean Special Report from the World Justice Project (WJP) draws on data from the WJP’s General Population Poll conducted in 2022 across 14 Caribbean countries and illustrates how data can help actors apprise risks such as corruption and thereby also inform reform needs.

Achievements and Way forward

The session also reflected on the Group’s achievements over the past year. Four rule of law clinics on people-centered justice were organised; shaped by the WG’s thematic leads, HiiL and IDLO, with additional contributions from WG2 members and selected partners, supporting cross-WG collaboration and broader network engagement. A practical guide distils the main takeaways offering links and resources to further learning opportunities. In parallel, WG1 supported country-level activities, including missions to Kyrgyzstan (rule of law, March 2025) and Ethiopia (transitional justice, May 2025), further embedding people-centred justice approaches in partner country contexts.  

The workstream on Accountability and Anti-corruption consolidated its role as a dynamic exchange platform connecting EU and Member State actors with civil society partners around mainstreaming anti-corruption and accountability, with particular emphasis on the Global Gateway (GG) Strategy. Priority was given to examining key GG sectors—such as climate finance and health—where discussions centred on identifying specific corruption risks and mitigation strategies. In parallel, the group facilitated exchanges between emerging MS initiatives and established implementing actors, especially in regions where priorities overlapped.

The discussions concluded with a review and endorsement of the work plan in support of the Global Gateway 360° approach. Looking ahead, WG1 agreed to advance work plan activities through knowledge sharing and targeted support packages, focusing on bridging investment language (bankability, pipelines, risk) with governance priorities (rule of law, accountability, rights) to ensure sustainable, inclusive outcomes. Activities include mainstreaming Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law in Global Gateway sectors, exploring commercial justice and transparency, as well as business and human rights, thereby collaborating with WG2 and WG3 wherever possible. 

We look forward to shaping these activities with our members!