CHLOSS ELMAU, Germany, June 26 ) – The group of seven countries on Sunday pledged to raise $ 600 billion in private and public funds over five years to finance much-needed infrastructure in developing countries and fight China’s multi-billion dollar project Belt and Road.
US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders re-launched the “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment,” at their annual conference in Schloss Elmau in southern Germany.
Biden said the United States will raise $ 200 billion in grants, government funds and private investment over five years to support projects in low- and middle-income countries that help address climate change and improve global health, gender equality and digital infrastructure.
“I want to be clear. This is not a charity or a charitable organization. Investment will bring everyone’s return,” Biden said, adding that it would allow countries to “see the tangible benefits of democracy.”
Biden said hundreds of billions of dollars more could come from international development banks, development finance institutions, private equity funds and more.
Europe will raise 300 billion euros for the project at the same time to build a sustainable alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced in 2013, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the gathering.
Leaders in Italy, Canada, and Japan also spoke about their plans, some of which have been announced separately. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were absent, but their countries were also involved.
The Chinese investment plan includes developments and programs in more than 100 countries aimed at creating a modern version of the ancient Silk Road trade route from Asia to Europe.
White House officials have said the program has provided small tangible benefits to many developing countries.
Biden has highlighted a number of key projects, including a $ 2 billion solar project in Angola with the help of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Export-Import Bank, an American company AfricaGlobal Schaffer, and a U.S. project developer. Sun Africa.
In partnership with members of the G7 and the EU, Washington will also provide $ 3.3 million technical assistance to the Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal as it develops a flexible industrial area to produce more vaccines in that country that could eventually produce COVID-19 and other targets. , a project involving the EU.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will also contribute up to $ 50 million over five years to the World Bank’s International Empowerment Fund.
Friederike Roder, vice president of the non-profit organization Global Citizen, said investment promises could be a “good start” to working more closely with G7 countries in developing countries and could contribute to strong global growth for all.
The G7 countries on average provide only 0.32% of the country’s gross domestic product, less than half of the promised 0.7%, on development assistance, he said.
“But without developing countries, there will be no global economic recovery,” he said.