The G7 leaders have pledged to raise $600 billion in private and public funds in the next five years to finance infrastructure in developing countries and counter China’s multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road project.
The G7 leaders relaunched the newly renamed “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment” on Sunday at their annual meeting at Schloss Elmau in southern Germany. World’s seven richest countries _ Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the United States are the G7 members.
“Developing countries often lack the essential infrastructure to help navigate global shocks, like a pandemic, so they feel the impacts more acutely and they have a harder time recovering,” Biden said.
“That’s not just a humanitarian concern, it’s an economic and a security concern for all of us.”
The United States, he said, would mobilise $200 billion in grants, federal funds and private investment over five years to support projects in low- and middle-income countries that help tackle climate change as well as improve global health, gender equity and digital infrastructure.
“I want to be clear. This isn’t aid or charity. It’s an investment that will deliver returns for everyone,” Biden said, adding that it would allow countries to “see the concrete benefits of partnering with democracies”.
Biden said hundreds of billions of additional dollars could come from multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, sovereign wealth funds and others.
