The president of the European ComissionUrsula von der Leyen, and the President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Saturday new investments in Asia-Pacific as part of a mechanism created by the G7 to counteract China.
The biggest announcement was from von der Leyen, who said that the European Union will provide $4 billion in loans for infrastructure projects in low- and middle-income countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
“In it G7 We want to be part of the solution to close the gap that exists in infrastructure investment. We want to put better deals on the table. If there is competition, then we want to be in the lead,” Von der Leyen said at an event on the sidelines of the G7 summit in hiroshima.
For his part, Biden announced investments in different parts of the world and whose funds will come from both public coffers and the private sector.
The president did not offer a total number of investments from the United States, but gave several examples of the projects that his country is carrying out.
For example, he explained that his government plans to invest 25 million dollars in aid to Costa Rica to help you strengthen your defenses against cyber attacks.
Biden also mentioned an investment in Ecuador that was officially announced two weeks ago to help modernize Puerto Bolívar, in the southeast of the country and which is close to the areas of the country dedicated to agriculture.
The event in which they participated Von der Leyen and Biden was meant to show the G7’s commitment to the grand infrastructure plan launched by the same group at their summit last year in Germany, known as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII).
Through this plan, the G7 committed to mobilize 600,000 million dollars in five years to counteract the Chinese mega-project “One Belt, One Road” (One Route, One Belt), launched in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the objective of expanding China’s influence around the world through investments in infrastructure and telecommunications.
According to White House, To date, the United States has mobilized $30 billion through public grants and private sector investment for infrastructure projects.
For its part, the EU has created an initiative called “global gateway” and which aims, within a period of six years (2021-2027) to mobilize 330,000 million dollars in investments, with a mix of scholarships, concessional loans and guarantees.