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| Leaders of the Group of 7 nations detailed a plan on Sunday to invest in infrastructure projects in less-wealthy countries around the world, an initiative meant to counter China’s expanding influence from its Belt-and-Road Initiative. |
| The announcement came a year after President Biden urged his fellow leaders at a G7 meeting to act boldly to battle China’s growing influence in Latin America, Africa and parts of Europe, and it was a notable departure in tone at a meeting that was largely focused on addressing the impact and response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. |
| Presenting the project on Sunday, the leaders sought to stress its democratic nature, but it was unclear whether Mr. Biden and his counterparts would actually deliver anywhere near enough money to match the scale of China’s efforts, which have been underway for years. |
| “What we are doing is fundamentally different because it is grounded in our shared values,” Mr. Biden said. “It is built using global best practices; transparency, partnership, protections for labor and the environment offering better options for countries and people around the world to invest in critical infrastructure.” |
| Biden administration officials said the effort would seek to mobilize $600 billion across the G7 nations, to help less-wealthy countries finance spending on a wide range of projects for low-carbon energy, child care, advanced telecommunications, water and sewer upgrades, vaccine deployment and more. Mr. Biden said that $200 billion of the commitment would come from the United States. |
| An administration official told reporters that the program would prioritize investing in projects that could be completed quickly and efficiently — and that meet stringent labor and environmental standards. Officials also sought to cast the new program as far more likely to help emerging economies achieve faster and more sustainable economic growth than Chinese loans that the administration has cast as “debt traps” for poorer countries. |
| “We are listening closely to the recipient countries so that we can better understand their needs and deliver the biggest impact,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. |
| Much of the G7’s promised money announced Sunday is not direct government spending — it is a mix of public and private money, which has no guarantee of materializing. |
| Mr. Biden said that the United States’ planned contribution would include public and private capital. Administration officials would not specify how much of the $200 billion was meant to come from the private sector. An administration official told reporters that the government’s portion of the funding would essentially include projects that are already in the pipeline and money that has already been directed to federal agencies. |
| Other countries used similar math to reach their pledges for the newly named Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. |
| The European Union pledged $316 billion from a combination of public and private over the next seven years and Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy said the World Bank and other development banks would be mobilized to provide further funding. |
| The leaders named several projects already in development that make up a first tranche of the program’s aid. They include $3.3 million to help build a vaccine-manufacturing facility in Senegal, a $2 billion solar-energy project in Angola and $14 million to support development of an advanced nuclear reactor in Romania. |
| “We will optimize our collective power because it is up to us to give a positive, powerful investment impulse to the world,” Ms. von der Leyen said. “To show our partners in the developing world that they have a choice.” |
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