EU turns digital strategy into infrastructure diplomacy with partner countries

The European Commission, together with the governments of France and Finland, has hosted a high-level study visit in Brussels on secure, resilient and trusted connectivity and digital infrastructure, bringing policymakers and regulators from Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines and Vietnam into direct talks with the EU institutions and industry actors. The visit forms part of the EU’s effort to turn its international digital strategy into practical cooperation with partner countries.

The programme focused on policy frameworks for secure and trusted telecommunications infrastructure, including subsea cable deployment and wider digital infrastructure development. In Brussels, delegates met with the European Commission and the European External Action Service. They were briefed on the EU policy tools, including the proposed Digital Networks Act, cybersecurity measures, and the EU’s Submarine Cable Security Toolbox.

The study visit then continued in Aachen, Antwerp, Paris and Helsinki, where participants met major European technology firms and providers of trusted connectivity and digital infrastructure solutions. That industry-facing element matters because the visit was not only about sharing regulatory ideas but also about showcasing European technical and commercial capacity in secure digital infrastructure.

Seen in that context, the initiative is best understood not as a major standalone policy announcement, but as a practical piece of digital diplomacy. The EU’s International Digital Strategy, launched in June 2025, explicitly aims to expand digital partnerships, promote a high level of security for the EU and its partners, and shape global digital governance and standards through cooperation on areas such as secure connectivity, cybersecurity, digital public infrastructure, and emerging technologies.

That wider strategy also includes an ‘EU Tech Business Offer’, combining public and private investment to support the digital transition of partner countries through areas such as AI factories, secure and trusted connectivity, digital public infrastructure and cybersecurity. The Brussels study visit appears to fit squarely within that model, linking diplomacy, regulatory outreach and industrial promotion.

The significance of the visit, therefore, lies less in any immediate policy outcome than in what it says about the EU’s external digital posture. Brussels is trying to position itself not only as a regulator of digital markets at home, but also as a provider of standards, expertise and infrastructure models abroad. At a time of rising geopolitical competition over connectivity, network security and critical infrastructure, such exchanges allow the EU to present European approaches to trusted digital development as an alternative to more fragmented or politically dependent models.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!