US President Joe Biden has set out a new framework to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative. As the initiative announced last year did not get off the ground, he sought support from countries at the G7 Summit in Elmau, southern Germany.
The “Better World Reconstruction” initiative, named following President Biden’s tax and spending bill, was announced a year ago, but there is not enough funding from other G7 countries, according to people familiar with the matter. Therefore, it did not start smoothly. European officials have pointed out that the Biden administration failed to pass the bill through parliament.
The name of the new framework is “Global Infrastructure Investment Partnership (PGII)”. The United States is calling on G7 leaders to fund a plan to invest $ 600 billion over five years in low- and middle-income countries. Most of the investment is by the private sector, with participation from the US Development Finance Corporation and Export-Import Banks.
The US plans to invest a total of $ 200 billion, but it is unclear how the public-private ratio and how the government will ask companies to participate.
According to Kyodo News, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has expressed his intention to contribute more than $ 65 billion to Japan’s infrastructure investment in developing countries in collaboration with the G7.
Original title:US Resuscitates Bid at G-7 to Counter China’s Belt and Road (1)(excerpt)
