SCHLOSS ELMAU, Germany : Group of Seven leaders pledged to raise US $600 billion in private and public funds over five years to support infrastructure in developing countries and counter China's older, multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road project.
The newly renamed Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment was founded by US President Joe Biden and other G 7 leaders at their annual gathering in Schloss Elmau in southern Germany this year.
Biden said the United States 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 with climate change, as well as improve global health, gender equity and digital infrastructure.
I want to be clear. This isn't charity or aid. Biden said that it will allow countries to see the real benefits of partnering with democracies and that hundreds of billions of dollars could come from multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, sovereign wealth funds and others.
Europe will mobilise around 300 billion for the initiative over the same period to build up a sustainable alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative scheme, which Chinese President Xi Jinping launched in 2013, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the gathering.
Some of the leaders of Italy, Canada, and Japan have already been announced about their plans, some of which have already been announced. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were not present, but their countries are also participating.
China's investment scheme involves development and programmes in over 100 countries in order to create a modern version of the Silk Road trade route from Asia to Europe.
White House officials said the plan hasn't provided tangible benefit to many developing countries.