Keynote speech by Jozef Síkela at the Ambrela Development Forum 2026: Re-centering Human Development in the Global Gateway

It is a pleasure to be back in Bratislava. For five years, as CEO of Slovenská sporiteľňa, this city was my home.

Today I come in a different role: as the European Commissioner responsible for Global Gateway and Europe's strong action abroad.

So thank you for inviting me to open the Ambrela Development Forum.

Perhaps, you know about my banking career. But before that, I was a student and in November 1989, when I was 22, I stood on Národní třída in Prague with my girlfriend and my friends, while young people filled Námestie SNP here in Bratislava.

We did not know what the next morning would bring. We only knew we wanted freedom.

Thirty-seven years later, I know how extraordinary that moment was.

My generation went from demonstrating in the streets to living, working and travelling in a Europe without the borders that had divided us.

That is the power of civil society: what people achieve when they organise and stand together.

Many of the organisations present here carry that same spirit.

Russia's war against Ukraine continues. Great-power rivalry has intensified. Climate change is accelerating, and AI is advancing faster than the rules we need to manage it.

Last week, I participated in the UN General Assembly in New York and I saw how openly some now challenge international law, and how others use trade as a bargaining chip.

My answer is strong, strategic partnerships that reduce our dependencies, strengthen our partners, and make societies fairer and more stable. And that is what Global Gateway is for.

Since 2021, we have mobilised more than 306 billion euros for clean energy, digital connectivity, transport, health and education.

But the amount is not what makes it different. How we invest is: locally owned, socially accountable, environmentally sustainable, and shaped with the people it is meant to serve.

Take critical raw materials. Everyone here with a smartphone depends on them. One phone contains up to 50 different metals.