At the G7 Summit in Schloss Elmau, Germany, political leaders launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure (PGII) on 26 June to mobilize capital and deliver quality, sustainable infrastructure.
These projects will seek to make a difference in people’s lives around the world, strengthen and diversify supply chains, create new opportunities for workers and businesses, and advance national security.
US President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. aims to mobilize $200 billion for PGII over the next 5 years through grants, Federal financing, and leveraging private sector investments. Together with G7 partners, aim is to mobilize $600 billion by 2027 in global infrastructure investments.
PGII has four priority pillars. This includes:
a. Tackling the climate crisis and bolstering global energy security through investments in climate resilient infrastructure, transformational energy technologies, and developing clean energy supply chains across the full integrated lifecycle, from the responsible mining of metals and critical minerals; to low-emissions transportation and hard infrastructure; to investing in new global refining, processing, and battery manufacturing sites; to deploying proven, as well as innovative, scalable technologies in places that do not yet have access to clean energy.
b. Developing, expanding, and deploying secure information and communications technology (ICT) networks and infrastructure to power economic growth and facilitate open digital societies—from working with trusted vendors to provide 5G and 6G digital connectivity, to supporting access to platforms and services that depend upon an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable internet and mobile networks with sound cybersecurity.
c. Advancing gender equality and equity—from care infrastructure that increases opportunities for economic participation by women, to improved water and sanitation infrastructure that addresses gender gaps in unpaid work and time use – in order to boost the global economic recovery.
d. Developing and upgrading the infrastructure of health systems and contributing to global health security through investments in patient-centered health services and the health workforce; vaccine and other essential medical product manufacturing; and disease surveillance and early warning systems, including safe and secure labs.
Projects that are underway in these areas:
(1) In collaboration with G7 members as well as the European Union and multilateral organizations, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is disbursing a $3.3 million technical assistance grant to Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) for early-stage project development for an industrial-scale flexible multi-vaccine manufacturing facility in Senegal (West Africa) with potential annual capacity of millions of doses of COVID-19 and other vaccines, potentially using both viral vector and mRNA technologies. DFC’s grant is part of a $14 million grant financing package that also includes $3.3 million from the International Finance Corporation, $2 million from the Agence Française de Développement, and $5.2 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). DFC, along with other development finance institutions, is currently evaluating a loan to support IPD’s expansion to supplement EIB’s recent announcement of a nearly $80 million sovereign loan financing package.
(2) The Digital Invest program will utilize $3.45 million in State and USAID funding to mobilize up to $335 million in investment capital for internet service providers and financial technology companies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that use secure network equipment and advance competition and choice in emerging markets
(3) The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will aim to commit up to $50 million over five years to the World Bank’s new global Childcare Incentive Fund – $200 million public-private partnership to address the gap in suitable childcare infrastructure; boost women’s employment opportunities, productivity and income, and broader economic growth; and promote human capital and early learning for children.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “Europe’s response to the world’s investment gap is Global Gateway. It is going to be under the roof of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. It is the Team Europe approach. And to the USD 200 billion that have just been announced by the President of the United States, Team Europe is mobilising EUR 300 billion until 2027, from both public and private sources. EUR 300 billion for sustainable quality infrastructure and also for health infrastructure. Investments that are transparent and that improve everyday lives and bring real benefit for the communities on the ground.”
G7 countries include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and United States.