Europe and US alternatives to the BRI
Giorgio Brusati
Dipendente presso Ministero dell'Interno, Questura di Torino, Commissariato PS di Ivrea
Hello all, your friendly neighbourhood international relations lover is back again.
This time, as mentioned in my last week's poll, I will write about the alternatives that the EU and the US have studied to "compete" with China's Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).
I am assuming that most, if not all of you, have at least heard about the BRI.
The Belt & Road initiative has been established by the Chinese government in 2013 in order to bolster the commercial ties between China and the rest of the world, most notably the African Continent and the Central Asian Republics, but also South East Asia and Europe.
Its main goal is to develop infrastructures through the participation of financial institutions, some of them created just for this purpose.
As I wrote in my previous article, China is now seeking to become a global player after decades of isolation, and this initiative is surely playing a big role in achieving their goal.
As a result, the previous "owners of the world", Europe and the USA, found themselves in a difficult position, since the political and economic influence of the Middle Kingdom rose dramatically.
For this reason and to try to get up to speed with China's expansion, both the EU and the USA launched two similar initiatives.
Let's start from the European side.
The President of the European Commission, Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU High Representative, Mr. Josep Borrell, for the period from 2021 to 2027, have set out this initiative as a strategy to "boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport sectors and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world", as they say in the dedicated section of their website.
Needless to say, the before mentioned investments will focus on, guess what, infrastructures!
Ms. Von der Leyes, who is super active on social media, specifies that the investments will reflect the needs of the Partner Countries and will focus on sustainability (according to Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement). They will, also, guarantee high labor and environmental standards.
By scrolling down the initiative's presentation, something came under my attention: the 6 principles which will be the basis of the programme!
Let's see them one by one (spoiler: the best one is at the end):
I hope you will excuse my "humour", but sometimes I wonder if our leaders live in the real world or in a fairytale.
Anyway, for the period 2021-2027, the initiative will enjoy the amount of up to 300 billions € in investments: an operation that will see the joint participation of both the EU and its member states.
Jokes apart, I wish them luck, and I hope that this initiative will bring real benefits to the partner countries.
领英推荐
Now, let's see what is Washington planning!
The "Build Back Better World" initiative, aka B3W, has been launched by President Joe Biden during the G7 Summit held in Cornwall in June 2021.
There are many similarities between B3W and Global Gateway and, of course, with the BRI.
Biden's plan, boosting a financial budget of 250 billions USD, has the following goal:
"Meeting the Tremendous Infrastructure Needs of Low- and Middle-Income Countries", as stated in the factsheet published by the White House.
According to the mentioned presentation, in the low and middle income Countries there's a USD 40+ trillion infrastructure need.
I guess that you already understood the target Countries...anyway, Latin America and Africa in primis, with a potential of going truly global with the participation of the G7 Members.
And what about the principles at the basis of B3W? Here they come:
In Biden's view, the US will lead and coordinate the alliance of "like minded democracies" and, through the participation of the private sector and financial institutions, the hope is to mobilize hundreds of billions USD in favour of the developing countries.
As a true passionate of international relations and diplomacy matters, I sincerely hope that both these plans will achieve their goal: which is, ultimately, to eliminate the word "developing" before the word "countries".
So I welcome these initiatives from a financial and economic point of view, even if their political motive is not so smart since they started much later than Beijing's BRI.
That's it for now until the next article.
Let me know your opinions in the comment section and remember: sharing is caring!