Building Trust in the EU-Africa Digital Space: Data Governance, Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Sovereignty

This year, the African Union (AU) and the EU celebrate the 25th anniversary of their special and fruitful partnership highlighting digital as key area of cooperation. 

Across the African continent, we have seen a dynamic and rapidly evolving technology ecosystem take shape over the past years. Furthermore, Africa’s demographic outlook reinforces the continent’s potential in digital: Sub-Saharan Africa is home to the world’s youngest population, with approximately 70 percent under the age of 30, and the continent’s working-age population is projected to double by 2050.

This rapid growth, combined with high rates of urbanisation and one of the fastest increases in mobile Internet adoption globally, positions Africa as a critical frontier for digital innovation and economic expansion. 

Yet, realising this potential requires the right technological solutions, an enabling funding landscape, human capital, and strong political will to truly unlock inclusive growth. This is why we are seeing many African countries prioritising digital talent development as a strategic objective. By connecting Europe’s digital ecosystem with Africa’s, both regions could benefit from structured mobility pathways that align digital labour market demands with available skills. 

Within this context, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has underscored that partnerships with Africa are a geopolitical priority for this Commission. Her visit to South Africa earlier this year and the upcoming EU–AU Summit in Angola are strong signals of this commitment, with digital transformation constituting a central pillar of this agenda. The EU seeks not only to foster mutual learning, but also to explore how EU-Africa collaboration can be deepened to expand the benefits of digital innovation for citizens and businesses on both continents.

Central to this vision is the principle of trust. 

Trust has become the defining factor in today’s digital age. Without it, connectivity, innovation, and digital growth remain fragile. This is why the Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen together with Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, have launched an International Digital Strategy to reinforce global standards, strengthen security, and shape a trusted framework for digital governance. 

At the core of this strategy stands the new integrated EU Tech Business Offer, which will support the deployment of secure and trusted digital connectivity, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), Artificial Intelligence (AI) software solutions, and beyond. Building on the foundation laid by the Global Gateway Strategy, the Offer underlines the strategic relevance of the digital sector. The ultimate objective is to create a package of mutual benefits, by tailoring and combining technology components in a modular approach, and by addressing the interests of both the partner countries and the EU.

In the EU, we have put trust at the heart of our digital transformation, embedding it within a human-centred ecosystem guided by European values. This ecosystem is underpinned by secure and accountable practices, supported by trusted vendors, and designed to safeguard fundamental rights while ensuring resilience. 

For example, with the current EU ID Wallet integration, Member States have the obligation to establish, maintain and publish trusted lists of qualified trust service providers and the service provided by them. Users, whether citizens, businesses or public administrations, benefit from the legal effect associated with a given qualified trust service. 

Furthermore, with the EU’s policies on secure 5G, we have evaluated that the security of 5G networks and other digital infrastructure is essential to ensure trust and willingness of users to the networks for their activities. The EU can assist partner countries who are equally concerned about the need to build their digital economy on secure and sovereign foundations.

At the same time as we are building trust, we are also having to keep up with a drastically evolving European tech landscape,with new emerging high-end, trusted solutions.

As highlighted in our Competitiveness Compass, the EU’s priority is to become the place where future technologies, services and clean products are invented, manufactured and put on the market. With this Compass, European private sector companies are equipped to invest and build secure and trusted digital infrastructure abroad. 

This brings us back to the EU Tech Business Offer, which will help us in this objective: together with these firms, we build a strong Tech Team Europe approach with Member States, aligning financing with political support and bridging the gap to partner countries’ digital ecosystems. Our job is to support them to open doors, de-risk investments, and make sure their solutions can be tailored and bring the best value to our partner countries. 

By prioritising people, Europe distinguishes itself as a long-standing and reliable partner in global digital cooperation. Moreover, Europe promotes financing and investment models that are not only sustainable but also credible, thereby creating a solid foundation for equitable collaboration with Africa.

By advancing the EU–Africa Digital Space together, Europe and Africa will not only share the benefits of digitalisation but also shape a future for both partners where sovereignty, innovation, and trust go hand in hand, ultimately building a long-lasting partnership. It is now up to Europe to demonstrate to our African counterparts the EU’s added value, through a new, trusted approach to the continent.