G7 leaders pledged on Sunday (6/26) to raise $600 billion in public and private funds over five years to fund needed infrastructure in developing countries and counter the long-running belt and road project of several trillion dollars from China. US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders relaunched the new “Global Infrastructure and Investment Partnership” at their annual meeting this year at Schloss Elmau in southern Germany.

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Biden said the United States will mobilize $200 billion in grants, federal funds and private investments over five years to support projects in low- and middle-income countries that help fight climate change as well as improve global health, gender equality and digital infrastructure.

“I want to be clear. This is not about aid or charity. This is an investment that will pay off for everyone,” Biden said, adding that it would allow countries “to see the concrete benefits of partnership with democracies. Biden said hundreds of billions more could come from multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, sovereign wealth funds and others.

Europe will mobilize US$300 billion for the initiative over the same period to build a sustainable alternative to the China Belt and Road Initiative program that Chinese President Xi Jinping launched in 2013, the president said. of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

The leaders of Italy, Canada and Japan also talked about their plans, some of which have already been announced separately. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were not present, but their countries are also taking part.

China’s investment program involves development and investment initiatives in more than 100 countries with a range of projects, which include railways, ports and highways, with the aim of creating a modern version of the ancient Silk Road trade route to Europe.

White House officials said the plan had brought few tangible benefits to many developing countries.

protests

Hundreds of protesters marched through the southern German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Sunday, near where G7 leaders are meeting, demanding action on climate change. Leaders of the United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada and Japan kicked off a three-day summit on Sunday at Schloss Elmau, Bavaria, which will be dominated by the war in Ukraine.

Beneath a banner that read “Global justice, save the climate instead of weaponize”, several speakers addressed a crowd of protesters, calling for more action to tackle climate change. “I am demonstrating here today for climate justice and the right decisions to make so that I have a future,” said Theresa Stoeckl, one of the protesters.

Seven of the protesters, holding an Oxfam banner that read “Stop Burning Our Planet”, wore traditional Bavarian clothing and masks depicting G7 leaders. They held mugs of beer while holding a model of the earth above a grill.

“Seven heads of government from different countries are trading all over the world. And we’ve seen before that what they trade doesn’t always benefit the whole world,” Benedikt Doennwagen said.

Another protester, Erich Utz, said G7 leaders should include young people at the summit and in their decisions. “I’m 17 – there are people sitting there who are four times my age, discussing my future and not asking young people what we want once,” Utz said.

Russia unifies attacks

Russian missiles hit a building and a kindergarten in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Sunday in attacks described as “barbarism” by US President Joe Biden as world leaders gathered in Europe to discuss new sanctions on the Moscow government.

Up to four explosions rocked central kyiv in the early hours of the day, the first attack on the city in weeks. “The Russians hit kyiv again. Missiles damaged a building and a kindergarten,” said Andriy Yermak, director of the Ukrainian presidential administration.

A Reuters photographer saw a large crater, caused by an explosion, on a playground in a kindergarten whose windows were smashed.

Deputy Mayor Mykola Povoroznyk said one person was killed and six injured. He said explosions heard later in other parts of kyiv were air defenses destroying Russian missiles.

Russia stepped up its airstrikes on Ukraine over the weekend. The country also saw the fall of a strategic city in the east of the country to pro-Russian forces.