The G7 Hopes to Raise $600 Billion to Counter China's Belt and Road Initiative

On Sunday, the Group of Seven leaders pledged to raise $600 billion in private and public funds over five years to finance needed infrastructure in developing countries and to counter China's older, multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. At this year's G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, southern Germany, US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders relaunched the newly renamed "Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment."

Over the next five years, the US will mobilise $200 billion in grants, federal funds, and private investment to support projects in low- and middle-income countries that address climate change and improve global health, gender equity, and digital infrastructure.

"I want to be clear. This isn't aid or charity. It's an investment that will deliver returns for everyone," Biden said, adding that it would allow countries to "see the concrete benefits of partnering with democracies." Biden stated that multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and others could contribute hundreds of billions of dollars.

Europe will mobilise 300 billion euros ($317.28 billion) over the same period to build a sustainable alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative scheme, which Chinese President Xi Jinping launched in 2013, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.