SCHLOSS ELMAU, Germany, June 26 (Reuters) – A group of seven leaders on Sunday pledged to raise $ 600 billion in private and public funds over five years to finance infrastructure in developing countries and counter China’s multi-trillion-dollar belt and road project.
The newly renamed “Global Infrastructure and Investment Partnership” was re-launched by US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders at their annual meeting this year in Schloss Elmau, southern Germany.
Biden said the United States will raise $ 200 billion in grants, federal funds and private investment over five years to support projects in low- and middle-income countries that will help tackle climate change and improve global health, gender equality and digital infrastructure.
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“I want to be clear. This is not aid or charity. It’s an investment that will bring income to all,” Biden said.
Biden said hundreds of billions of dollars could come from multilateral development banks, development finance companies, sovereign property funds and more.
Europe will raise 300 billion euros ($ 317.28 billion) as a permanent alternative to China’s Belt and Road initiative, European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen told the gathering. .
The leaders of Italy, Canada and Japan also talked about their plans, some of which have already been announced separately. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not attend, but their countries do.
China’s investment plan includes development and projects in more than 100 countries aimed at developing a modern version of the ancient Silk Road trade route from Asia to Europe.
White House officials said the plan has yielded some tangible benefits for many developing countries.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian backed the BRI’s record when asked at a daily conference in Beijing on Monday.
“China continues to welcome all efforts to promote global infrastructure development,” Zhao said of the G7’s $ 600 billion plan.
“We hope that the various related initiatives will no doubt replace each other. We oppose pushing geopolitical calculations forward on the pretext of blunting infrastructure construction or the belt and road initiative.”
Biden highlighted a number of major projects, including a $ 2 billion solar development project in Angola, supported by the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the US company Africa Global Schaefer and US project developer Sun Africa.
Together with G7 members and the EU, Washington will provide $ 3.3 million in technical assistance to Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal, which will build the industry-wide flexible multi-vaccine manufacturing facility that could eventually develop COVID-19 and other vaccines, including the European Union. Project.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide $ 50 million over five years to the World Bank’s Global Child Care Promotion Fund.
Friederike Roder, co-chair of Global Citizen, a non – profit group, said the G7’s investment commitment to greater involvement in developing countries would be a “good start” and lay the foundation for strong global growth for all.
G7 countries contribute only 0.32% of their gross national income on average, which is less than half of the promised 0.7%, in aid of growth, he said.
“But without developing countries, there will be no sustainable recovery in the world economy,” he said.
($ 1 = 0.9455 euros)
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Report by Andrea Shalal; Additional Report by Martin Queen Pollard in Beijing; Editing by Mark Porter, Lisa Schumacher and Muralikumar Anandaraman
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