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Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations pledged on Sunday (June 26) to raise $600 billion over five years to finance the infrastructure needed in developing countries to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
U.S. President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders relaunched the “Global Infrastructure and Investment Partnership” project at a summit in Germany, Archyde.com reported.
Infrastructure plan
Biden said the U.S. will mobilize $200 billion in grants, federal funds and private investment over five years to support programs in low- and middle-income countries that help combat climate change and improve global health, gender equality and digital infrastructure.
“I want to be clear. This is not aid or charity. This is an investment that will pay off for everyone,” Biden said, adding that it would allow countries to “see the concrete benefits of working with democracies.”
Biden said multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, sovereign wealth funds and others might provide hundreds of billions of dollars in additional funding.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would raise 300 billion euros for the initiative over the same period, creating a sustainable alternative to the one launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. The Belt and Road Initiative.
China’s investment plan, involving developments and projects in more than 100 countries, aims to create a modern version of the ancient Silk Road trade route from Asia to Europe.
White House officials say the plan brings little real benefit to many developing countries.
Biden highlighted several flagship projects, including a $2 billion solar development in Angola, Africa, backed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, U.S. firm AfricaGlobal Schaffer and U.S. project developer Sun Africa.
Along with G7 members and the European Union, the U.S. government will also provide $3.3 million in technical assistance to the Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal. Senegal is building a large-scale multi-vaccine production facility that might eventually produce Covid-19 vaccines and other vaccines, a project that also involves the European Union.
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USAID will also commit up to $50 million over five years to the World Bank’s Global Child Protection Award Fund.
Friederike Roder, vice-president of the nonprofit Global Citizen, said the investment pledge might be “a good start” for the G7 to increase engagement in developing countries, and might lead to stronger growth for all countries of global growth.
On average, G7 countries provide only 0.32 percent of their gross national income, less than half of the 0.7 percent pledged, she said.
“But the world economy cannot achieve a sustainable recovery without developing countries,” she said.
The G7, which includes the UK, US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy, unites the power of key democracies from North America, Europe and Asia.
China responds
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded on Monday (June 27) that China always welcomes all initiatives to promote global infrastructure construction, and there is no problem of replacing each other with relevant initiatives, but it opposes the promotion of geopolitical calculations under the banner of infrastructure construction. , to smear and slander the words and deeds of the “Belt and Road” initiative.
He also said that the “Belt and Road” initiative adheres to the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and has brought tangible benefits to the people of the countries concerned. Other countries’ claims that the “Belt and Road” creates a debt trap is a false proposition.
“What Archyde.com didn’t mention in its report is that the US itself is a mess, whether it’s climate change, gender equality or health,” Chinese state media Global Times said in its coverage of the summit.
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In response to the U.S. infrastructure initiative, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on June 17 that global infrastructure construction requires the concerted efforts of all countries to support and complement each other rather than confront and replace each other. “The relevant U.S. initiative ignores the common aspirations of all countries for common development and win-win cooperation, engages in zero-sum games, and provokes division and confrontation, which is unpopular.”
“What the world needs is to build bridges instead of tearing down bridges, to build interconnections instead of building walls, and to build mutual benefit and win-win results instead of closing and exclusivity. China welcomes all initiatives that help bring together forces and promote global infrastructure construction. Anything that lays a foundation for Facility construction banners and geopolitical calculations are not welcome and will not succeed,” he said.