WASHINGTON, June 26 – The United States aims to raise $ 200 billion in private and public funding over five years to fund needed infrastructure in developing countries under the G7 program aimed at combating China’s Belt and Road project, the White House said on Sunday.
U.S. President Joe Biden will unveil the plans, along with other leaders of the Seventh Party, some of whom have already unveiled their various plans, at their annual gathering in Schloss Elmau in southern Germany.
With growing concern about China, G7 leaders began floating around the project plans last year, and are now officially launching it under the new title, “Global Infrastructure and Investment Partnership” while dropping the moniker “Build Back Better World” launched by Biden at the time. his campaign for president.
Biden will launch a number of projects at the G7 event, hosted by leaders from Britain, Germany, Japan, the European Union, and Canada, pledging to focus on projects that help address climate change and improve global health, gender equality, and digital infrastructure. . In the absence of French President Emmanual Macron who has officially joined China’s infrastructure program.
“The president does not think we need to spend a dollar a dollar compared to China … or if you combine what the US and G7 partners have to say, it is very close to the price,” a senior US official said. journalists.
These funds will be raised through government grants and funds, as well as through investment by private companies, the White House said, adding that hundreds of billions of dollars more could come from multinational development banks, development finance institutions, private equity funds, and more.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) program, launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, includes development and investment programs in more than 100 countries, with numerous projects including railways, ports, and highways.
White House officials say Xi’s plan to create a modern version of the old Silk Road trade route has provided tangible benefits to many developing countries, including higher jobs for Chinese workers while increasing the level of forced overcrowding with children.
Biden will highlight a number of key projects, including the $ 2 billion solar projects in Angola with the help of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Export-Import Bank, a U.S. factory. 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 in 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.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will also contribute up to $ 50 million over five years to the World Bank’s new Child Care Benefit Fund, a project aimed at addressing the child care infrastructure gap.