G7 Leaders Discuss Investments in Global Infrastructure Projects Transcript

… through infrastructure investment, we will work with our partners to promote clean energy, build climate resilient societies, strengthen supply chains, and connect people to people with digital technology and transportation infrastructure to ensure that no one will be left behind.

(00:22)
Further, these investments will be made in a transparent and fair manner and contribute to sustainable development in the partner countries.

(00:34)
Japan will build wind farms in Vietnam and Egypt, and high speed railroads, subways, ports and cross harbor roads in India, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

(00:49)
In addition, a new line of credit totalling $4 billion will be provided by JICA to support countries vulnerable to climate change and for food security and to support SMEs and women.

(01:11)
Today, in addition to the leaders, we are joined by representatives of the world’s leading institutional investors, trading firms and international development financial institutions. Together, with all of you, I would like to renew our determination to further promote this partnership. And then, as co-organizers of this event, I would like to invite President Biden and President von der Leyen for their remarks.

(01:40)
First, I’d like to invite President Biden for his statement.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister.

(01:50)
Nearly one year ago we made a commitment to commit not only to build a better infrastructure, but to build a better future. One rooted in opportunity, security and prosperity for all. And thanks to all the public and private partners around this table, many more around the world, we’ve already begun to deliver.

(02:12)
Together, we’ve initiated quality and sustainable infrastructure projects across Africa, Asia and the Americas. And we’re strengthening our shared climate security, health security, and food security and economic security. All four our critical.

(02:28)
We started to engage more private investors to better de-risk and leverage additional capital, and I see at least two from the United States here, that are de-risking a lot.

(02:40)
And I’m proud to announce that the United States has already mobilized more than $30 billion in investments to date, and we’re just getting started. Together, we have a lot of work to do to close the infrastructure gap in low and middle income countries.

(02:58)
And as we begin the next year, our partnership, we need to find new ways to maximize our investments. That’s why moving forward the United States will enhance our focus on investing in key economic corridors.

(03:15)
In practice, that means making game-changing investments in regions that could lead to positive impacts across multiple sectors in multiple countries. We’ve already started working with our partners to make this happen.

(03:29)
For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S. Development Finance Corporation is looking to invest in this first railway project on the continent. A rail line would extend from the western shores of Angola to the border of the DRC in Zambia, with the goal of ultimately reaching the Indian Ocean, connecting the continent east to west for the first time. This project would not only quickly promote trade and create jobs, over time, in my view, it will strengthen the supply chains, incentivize investments in agriculture and promote food security. And it’s going to enable, in my view, us to better access clean energy and digital connectivity across the entire region, creating more security, more prosperity, more opportunities for generations to come.

(04:19)
That’s what our focus on the key economic corridors is all about, investing in near-term solutions that pay long-term dividends. It’s not only in Africa. We’re starting similar work in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Indonesia and other places I won’t bore you with now.

(04:37)
Let me close with this, during the G7 meeting, we’re addressing a range of issues; climate change, food security, gender inequality, economic resilience, digital connectivity and global security. We’re tracking these challenges together and I think we’re beginning to make some important progress.

(04:59)
But if we don’t move to do more to strengthen infrastructure in low and middle income countries, if we don’t do more to help nations deliver opportunities and prosperity for their people, our impact is going to be limited. That’s how critical this partnership is. That’s how important our investments are.

(05:19)
So today, as we began the PGII, its second year, let’s all find ways to maximize our investment, maximize it, because it’ll do a lot not only for that particular undertaking, but it has an impact across the entire regions in my view, and to unlock even more public and private capital. And together, let’s recommit to showing that democracies can deliver. Let me say it again, democracies can deliver. We have to deliver to people around the world.

(05:54)
I want to thank you all for your partnership and leadership in this vital issue. And now I’m going to turn it back to the prime minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Joe. Next, I’d like to invite Dr. von der Leyen for her remarks.

… so much. A pleasure to see you here. Indeed, it has been described, PGII, an initiative of $600 billion, top quality infrastructure where Europe is proud to contribute half of it.

(06:25)
We want eyes level partnership with the partner countries. We want to find solutions to the real challenges low and middle income countries are facing today. And we want to be part of the investments in infrastructure projects that bring good jobs and lasting growth, and very important, they create value locally.

(06:48)
Now, to reach this goal, we need the private sector. So this could take us from the billions to the trillions. We need you, and that’s why we are here today.

(06:58)
I know that you want to know that we are in this for the long haul. Yes, this is for sure, we are in this for the long haul. And we want to work with our country partner countries in a way that we have full transparency, strength in the regulatory environment and develop skills. I know that such a conducive and regulatory clear environment is essential for you to have the necessary predictability and security for capital investment.

(07:34)
Global Gateway, the European part of this initiative has started 90 projects worldwide so far. Let me share just three examples.

(07:42)
In Namibia, we are providing guarantees for private investments in green hydrogen. The goal here is twofold; ensure clean energy for the country itself and generate new revenues for the country in a way that it is able to export the green hydrogen, for example, to the European Union.

(08:02)
In Rwanda, we are working with a vaccine producer to bring the mRNA technology to Rwanda, so that in this country, together with you, the private sector, the country is able to produce the life-saving vaccines for the region.

(08:20)
In the Philippines, we are connecting our Copernicus satellite to build the first earth observation system in Southeast Asia. And Nokia, who is with us today here, is investing in the 4G and 5G infrastructure. So here, the corporation will support national and regional capacities to tackle the impact of climate change and improve disaster risk management.

(08:47)
So these were a few brief examples for the incredible power that public-private partnership can unleash. And I’m glad to announce that we are now mobilizing an extra €4 billion in loans for the Asian and Pacific regions.

(09:04)
Ladies and gentlemen, the G7 partnership is our effort to be part of the solution to the infrastructure investment gap. We want to put a better offer on the table. If we are in a race, we are in a race to the top, and we will continue to work after Hiroshima with the next presidencies of G7 in Italy and in 2025 in Canada.

(09:29)
So happy to have you on board, and I want to invite you already to the first Global Gateway forum in Brussels in October this year. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you, Ursula. So in addition to the leaders present here today, we have four people from the private sectors of the core organizing countries and also from the World Bank. First of all, from Japan, I’d like to invite the chairman of Japan Foreign Trade Council, Mr. Fumiya Kokubu, on behalf of trading companies at [inaudible 00:10:14] projects.

Honored to be here at this site event tonight. The Japan Foreign Trade Council is an industry organization representing various types of the trade related entities. One of which are so-called sogo shosha, or diversified trading conglomerate. We are a group of unique firms involved in a broad range of businesses worldwide, from upstream to downstream, in a supply chain of many different industries.

(10:47)
In infrastructure development, the sogo shosha organized project in their entirety. Not only do we act as investors, we also are involved in initial project planning, structuring the overall financing and overseeing the construction as well as the operation and maintenance management.

(11:08)
We have a long and proven track record not only in renewable energy, but also public transportation, which helps lower carbon emissions and desalination projects to tackle water shortages and so many others.

(11:25)
We believe the key to the success of the infrastructure project is the good coordination and the collaboration among the wide range of stakeholders, from MDBs, the private investors, the government regulators to local communities.

(11:42)
The way the sogo shosha work through communication to benefit all the stakeholders fits well with PGII’s philosophy of promoting quality infrastructure investment through public-private partnership.

(11:58)
We are now at the critical juncture

… juncture in human history, highlighted by the importance of upholding the principle of a free and open international order based upon rule of law. So we welcome PGII as an initiative that can help to protect and enhance this principle. And we expect that the governments and other stakeholders around the table will work together hand-in-hand to further improve the investment environment and promote public private partnership. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Kokubo. Next, I’d like to invite Ms. Fraser, CEO of Citigroup.

Thank you very much. Prime Minister Kishida, President Biden and President von der Leyen, and your excellencies. Good afternoon, thank you very much for inviting Citi to participate today. We do bring a unique perspective of doing business in 160 countries around the world, and that includes decades of experience working on the ground in many emerging markets, supporting investment and driving economic growth in alignment with the objectives of PGII. We understand the challenges as well as the opportunities that come with addressing the massive infrastructure needs of the developing world, and the reality is of what it actually takes to get things done on the ground. With President Assoumani here, I’m delighted to highlight our work financing over $125 million revolving credit facility to support female entrepreneurs in the Kenya, Gabon, in Nigeria and the DRC.

(13:48)
Our efforts extend around the world. That includes a 450 million sustainability-linked bond, which is increasing digital access in Costa Rica. And the financing for a $350 million wind farm in Northeast Brazil. And President Widodo, we are also helping finance a $400 million green bond to support geothermal power in Indonesia. We are proud of this work that we do around the world, but we know that much more needs to be done, and we certainly welcome the efforts to reform multilateral development banks. To be clear, however, more MDB financing just used the same way is not going to get us where we need to be. Instead, it’s about how to use MDB financing to catalyze private capital. And there’s a couple of different ways and ideas that we could deploy in the near term.

(14:48)
The first is incentivizing private capital. We need to reduce the hurdles that frequently restrict the ability to bring private capital to the table. So that’s aligning things like the global interpretation of Basel capital rules and country regulations around the world. It’s a tad complex today. By aligning the global interpretation of these rules, will help us lower capital treatment requirements so that those associated with MDB risk mitigation will enable more private capital in non-investment grade assets, which is the most critical piece here to flow in. So what is currently a trickle, can become a sustainable, materiable flow.

(15:34)
The second’s also just about sharing expertise. Led by the World Bank, let’s bring together technical experts from both sides, so from the development banks and the financial institutions so we can create more modern financial structures. Financial institutions such as Citi have capital markets and structuring expertise that MDBs don’t have. Whilst the MDBs have the geopolitical knowledge and project proficiency, including vast amounts of performance data over decades, that could really reduce down risk and pricing, therefore, of these projects that the capital market side that we lack. So bringing this together would be very valuable. And it would be remiss of me if I didn’t ask for actions to not only mobilize the capital, but to accelerate getting projects actually online. So permitting and the mundane, but important activities such as streamlining documentation and contracts and standardizing them would make an enormous difference.

(16:42)
So it’s not that hard. I am confident that if we have stronger collaboration, we can create enduring and sustainable flows of capital from the private sector that would raise the economic futures of developing countries around the world. Thank you.

Ms. Fraser, thank you very much for your remarks. Next is Mr. Lundmark, President, CEO of Nokia.

Thank you very much, Prime Minister, your excellencies. It’s a pleasure to be here to represent the digital technology industry, and thank you President von der Leyen for the invitation. I would like to share Nokia’s perspective on how to make initiatives like PGII and Global Gateway as impactful as possible. Digitalization and connectivity improve safety, productivity, efficiency and sustainability. That’s a fact. They are particularly effective in physical industries such as agriculture and manufacturing, making them highly relevant in all developing economies. Transcontinental connectivity with subsea cables such as Medusa in the Mediterranean Sea or the planned far-north fiber linking Japan, North America, Northern Europe, binds us together even more strongly. So encouraging digitalization and connectivity in partnership with trusted, reliable actors should be one of the PGII’s most important objectives. We should be asking ourselves, when any developing economy wants to invest in digital infrastructure or commit to digitalizing its economy, how can we make sure that G7 nations and their trusted vendors are the partners of choice?

(18:35)
A big part of the answer is financing. G7 economies have done tremendous work in getting initiatives like PGII and Global Gateway off the ground. They are the best channel to make financing competitive, attractive, and joined-up, and they can enable impact on a huge scale across sectors and continents. But we can still make the financial side of these initiatives even more attractive. Speaking for business, we would like development banks and export credit agencies from G7 nations to jointly develop attractive financing tools and offers to support trusted and sustainable infrastructure so these tools and offers can become even more effective. I’m proud that Nokia is a partner for trusted digitalization. We are working closely with the European Commission to develop global gateway digital flagships to benefit countries, industries, and communities. Please consider these projects alongside other digitalization opportunities with the urgency they deserve. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Lundmark, for your remarks. Next is Mr. Ogunlesi, Chairman and CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners.

Thank you Mr. Prime Minister, and I thank the G7 for inviting us to be part of this session. GIP, we are one of the largest managers of infrastructure assets around the world. We have a hundred billion of assets that we invest in companies in energy, transport, water and waste, and digital sectors. I should say, we have substantial investments in every single one of the G7 countries, and I did warn Prime Minister Trudeau that Canada is the exception, but we’re working hard to rectify that.

I’m watching you.

We agree that mobilizing private capitals is critical to addressing the urgent need for emerging market infrastructure investment. To date, together with our portfolio companies, we have invested over $15 billion of equity to provide critical infrastructure services in over 20 emerging market countries. In Asia, Avena energy company’s helping to tackle climate and energy security issues by building and operating three gigawatts of solar and wind farms in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Atlas Renewable Energy company is doing the same thing in Latin America with over four gigawatts of operating and under-construction solar plants in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, and Colombia.

(21:16)
Over the next 10 years, we at GIP, aim to invest some $20 billion in businesses that will provide essential infrastructure in emerging market countries. Turning to how the G7 and PGII can [inaudible 00:21:29] of flow of private capital in the emerging market infrastructure, we have three suggestions. One is to provide a pool of capital to support an instrument which can be modeled after the World Bank’s partial risk guarantee program that helps to lower the perceived risk of these investments through, for a fee, providing a G7-level backstop for some emerging market country obligations and undertakings. However, unlike the World Bank, apologies David, the program must be user-friendly, non-bureaucratic, quick-acting, nimble and flexible. This will materially lower the cost of providing emerging market infrastructure investments.

(22:07)
A second suggestion is to explore ways in which PGII can provide support for the development of critical financial products in emerging market countries. Things like longer tender local currency financing, and long-dated currency and interest rate hedges that will again help lower the cost and perceived risk of emerging market country investments. A third and final suggestion is to provide a forum for facilitating the regular flow of information about investment opportunities in emerging market countries and for educating private sector investors about the tools and instruments that are available from PGII to support these investments. We at GIP stand ready to support the G7 and PGII in this important undertaking. Thank you very much.

Mr. Ogunlesi, thank you very much. Next, I’d like to invite Mr. Malpass, President of World Bank for his remarks.

Thank you very much, Prime Minister and thank you for hosting us here and also for leading the quality infrastructure efforts for nearly a decade. Infrastructure development needs vast resources. I think the ambition should be large to create a dynamic investible asset class for infrastructure in developing countries that provides geographic and sectoral diversification. Climate infrastructure can clearly be an important portion of this asset class, as should be toll roads, electricity transmission assets, electricity distribution, and many types of water-related assets. All of these are currently underfunded, but would be attractive to investors if properly packaged. There are three main steps to achieve this; standards, verification of results,

… and standardization of contracts and techniques. This can make thousands of individual assets available to investors. An important early step is to converge on a set of measurement standards. There are many examples underway now at the 2019 G20 Osaka Summit. The World Bank was a key part of creating the Quality Infrastructure Investment partnership effort. This will help mainstream QII principles in more than $22 billion of World Bank projects. Several different standards in tech taxonomies are under discussion for sustainability disclosure and climate finance. The ASEAN taxonomy was offered as a model in Niigata last week. The ISSB and the US SEC have proposed sustainability reporting standards. The World Bank Group supports harmonization of standards to reduce cost and enhance transparency, and we have published and been one of the first to publish comprehensive Paris alignment guidelines for our instruments and sectors.

(25:13)
The second step is creating financing instruments with verifiable results that make projects attractive and saleable to donors and investors. Investors want to invest but they need to avoid greenwashing. At first, this can be done one innovation at a time and we’ve done that with Citi as with the water purification bond and in South Africa with the Black Rhino Bond. These are useful starting points. To move to bigger projects focused on greenhouse gas emission reduction, we’ve launched a multi-donor trust fund called SCALE that would bring concessional resources.

(25:54)
The third necessary step is standardization of contracts. This will allow risk diversification and can create a robust climate infrastructure asset class. We heard from two of the investors the importance of having a forum and having expertise that shares knowledge on this.

(26:16)
So with that, let me conclude on an important related issue. To become investible, countries need to do more to facilitate private capital. We are actively strengthening our support to enable private capital and strengthen private sectors. This involves a more holistic World Bank group effort. For example, countries have been accustomed to holding their best assets in government enterprises. The World Bank, IFC and MIGA can combine their efforts to help make these assets more sustainable and marketable. Ideally, this is part of a country’s overall effort to facilitate private capital inflows, including for climate. I want to thank Japan and all of you for the engagement. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Lopez. Now I’d like to have remarks from the invited countries, President Joko, President Azali, and Prime Minister Brown. First, from Indonesia, President Joko.

Thank you, Prime Minister Kishida. Excellencies, infrastructure development in the form of seaports, airports, also toll roads, power plants are one of our biggest agenda for Indonesia in creating a foundation for progress, to create equity and to increase the competitiveness of our nation.

(27:59)
Previously, Indonesia’s infrastructure development was concentrated only in the island of Java, one island out of 17,000 islands that Indonesia owns. That ultimately resulted in 56% of the population being concentrated on the island of Java and 58% of economic activities being centered in the island of Java. This inequity we try to suppress through the infrastructure development outside of the Java Island in the form of seaports, power plants, airports, and toll roads.

(28:44)
This is what will begin an equity that is Indonesia-centric, including the construction of the new capital city of Nusantara, a forest- and nature-based smart city of the future, 70% of which is a green zone and 80% of its energy resources come from renewable energy. This is a showcase of Indonesia’s transformation, which is very open for investment and cooperation in the fields of transportation, health, technology, finance, education, tourism, and its funding for infrastructure, we conduct using our national budget and also from our state-owned enterprises. And if they have an EIR is good, we will give it to investors and the private sector.

(29:43)
Therefore, the PGIs I support for the new capital city’s development is very important. Through concrete investment and other innovative financing, let us collaborate for the equality and welfare of the people. Thank you.

Thank you very much, President Joko. Next, I’d like to invite President Azali from Comoros.

Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. On behalf of Africa, I would like to thank you very much and to congratulate you for the way in which you are presiding over this meeting. We are now dealing with the vital topic that is important for the world as a whole and especially for Africa. It is very important to enhance private and public investment. You’ve made a number of announcements in the field of investments, but for us in Africa, we say that too much meat doesn’t waste the sauce. We always have to add more meat to the meal. It makes it even better. So thank you very much. To deal now with infrastructure in Africa, of course we are very busy looking at infrastructure. As I told you, we are part of the Free Trade Zone of the African continent that requires infrastructures, be it roads, ports or airports, power plants and so on. For us, it is a major concern. We need investments in infrastructure because we are convinced that this will give jobs to our young people and it’s important, because if they have a job, they won’t turn to extremism. These young people will be busy working. This will mean added value for our continent and diversification.

(31:47)
So I want to thank you again for your announcements, but for this private sector coming to Africa, it is important that they start partnerships with our companies. We need a tangible cooperation in the interest of everyone. This will encourage our youth to invest in entrepreneurship and this will also maybe alleviate the administration of our countries.

(32:15)
So once again, I’m extremely touched by this topic. Indeed, infrastructure, energy, this is important because it relates to climate as well. We all know that climate poses a major problem, especially in Africa and in insular countries. We are extremely sensitive to those issues.

(32:38)
We want to invest in this infrastructure, but what we need is a period of transition. Otherwise, we will never manage and we will only create more problems. So we really count on that partnership. But I would like to insist on the problem of administration, red tape. Sometimes it’s very heavy and in certain circumstances we can’t really conclude on our project. That is a major problem. So I would like to insist on that.

(33:06)
I heard that you want to invest in Africa, thank you very much. But in Africa there are two countries. There is a continental country and an insular country. So for the investments we have to take on board these specificities. We have a country, the Comoros, it is an island, but there are also different islands in the Comoros. So we need roads of course, but we need ports, we need airports, and we are faced with a specific phenomenon. If you build a road, we have mountains. Our geographies are very diversified. So we have to take on board all these elements in order to carry out sustainable investments, investments that can be beneficial to everyone.

(33:57)
Once again, thank you very much for your commitment. I can reassure you Africa is more than willing to make efforts in order to get a sustainable partnership, a strategic partnership beneficial to everyone, especially for the private sector. Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister.

President Azali, thank you very much. Next I would like to have remarks from Prime Minister Brown from the Cook Islands.

Thank you Prime Minister. Let me reinforce also the message by two previous leaders and give you a Pacific perspective on infrastructure investment. There are a number of things that conspire to make infrastructure investment in the Pacific Islands difficult. One is the small population of many of our countries, the microeconomies, which make the return on investment very difficult to recoup. The distance, in my country of the Cook Islands, a distance from the main island to the northernmost island is the same distance as London to Rome. This is just one of the countries. And also the diseconomies of scale. It means that capital investment in infrastructure on a per capita basis is disproportionately high for Pacific island countries.

(35:18)
Too often we see the trade-off between infrastructure development and physical space because of the debt burden that often accompanies infrastructure investment. When we do invest, what this does on our balance sheet is the depreciation value adds again to our balance sheet, which gives us a disproportionate… or distorts our balance sheets for us.

(35:39)
The cost of not doing this infrastructure investment such as sealing a runway on one of our islands, it doesn’t matter whether you are sealing it for 1,000 people or 100,000 people, the cost is still the same. But if you don’t do that, then what you see is the population on these remote islands

Becoming part of the migrant labor force that moves to other countries to find work. And in our country, like the other two countries, you’re not just looking at one airstrip that you have to seal. In my country, we have to look at 10 airstrips that we have to seal. So the cost is replicated, it’s magnified, and that’s just for connectivity. We are also talking about digital connectivity with either satellite or cable. We are looking at replicating power generation on each of these small island communities. It’s important then for the G7 and partners to look at tailoring the type of support that you can provide for small micro economies in order for them to be able to participate in the main centers’ economic growth in order for these small communities to earn a living so they don’t have to leave the country. Thank you, Prime Minister.

Thank you very much, Prime Minister Brown. Then last but not the least, after we heard the voices from the invited countries, I would like to have remarks from the G7 leaders. However, we have passed the time scheduled, so I would like to ask the G7 leaders to be as concise as possible. First, from Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau.

Thank you very much. Well, much has been said, so I don’t need to say too much other than I agree entirely, which is what everything that has been said so far. I want to thank the US, Japan and the EU for convening this. I want to thank the leaders of emerging economies, the key private sector players, along with my other G7 colleagues.

(37:36)
Investing to close the infrastructure gap will grow the economy, create good jobs for the middle class, and help reduce poverty all around the world. At the G20 summit last November, Canada announced $750 million recapitalization of our development finance institution, FinDev Canada, to help support infrastructure investment in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Today, I’m announcing that Canada will contribute an additional $335 million for quality sustainable infrastructure, working with FinDev Canada, the Mirova Gigaton Fund, the Maranatha Energy Investment, SRL, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

(38:14)
[foreign language 00:38:16].

We have to pursue this task. We have to be united to foster renewable energies, to strengthen our supply chains, to create good jobs, to protect the environment and to favor equality among people. And we have to do this everywhere around the world. And this is why we are meeting today because we need it. We need to do this and this is how we can maximize our impact. Thank you.

[foreign language 00:38:45].

Thank you very much, Justin. Next from Germany, Chancellor Scholz.

[foreign language 00:38:57]

And it works really well since then. And thank you for you for your leadership and act activity to make this something that is continuously making progress. It is very important that we meet today, today to continue with all the activities. It’s about mobilizing public but also and mostly private capital for direct investment into the countries, and it is necessary that we do it within this framework because it creates the environment, the ecosystem where such investments can take place. And this is why I really think we should put our different initiatives together. So there is also this G20 compact with Africa, which is important to convince countries that there is an environment necessary for this way of investment. And if we are continuously working into this direction, I think this will be very, very good. Thank you.

Thank you, Olaf. And then Prime Minister Meloni from Italy.

Thank you very much, [inaudible 00:40:16]. The PGAI is a concrete, intelligent, a serious way of cooperating with low and middle income countries with a known predatory approach. Investment infrastructures, they guarantee a higher multiplier than those in current expenditures, and they foster a concrete development for the future of these nations. And that is why Italy has guaranteed its support through the EU Global Gateway, focusing moreover on Africa with two projects in connectivity areas that form part of our [inaudible 00:40:59] plan for Africa. And the first area is energy. In this regard, the element submarine cable, which connects the electricity production of Italy and Tunisia, is a significant project and it is part of the Italian strategy to invest in energy production in Africa. And the second area is data. In this context, I wish to recall at least two project the Blue [inaudible 00:41:27], which connects the Indo-Pacific with Europe and North Africa, creating an important connection system between three continents, and they already recalled Medusa optical fiber cable, which significantly enhances internet connectivity for North Africa University and supports the training of African in a concrete way. We strongly believe in this approach and this issue will be one of the priorities of the Italian presidency of G7 in 2024.

Giorgia, thank you very much. This is all for the statements for today. Today’s side event brought together many stakeholders, including from the private sector and was symbolic the partnership for infrastructure investment. Japan has been promoting infrastructure investment in various areas in broad, including Asia, Africa, and Oceania, in order to mobilize private sector capital and infrastructure support of more than 65 billion dollars in five years. We look forward to continuing to work with all of you as we advance the concrete implementation of global infrastructure investment partnership, and further promote high quality infrastructure investment.

(42:55)
So with this, this side event is concluded. Thank you very much for your participation. And we are running out of time, so those who are going to participate session seven, Mr. Lopez and other leaders participating in session seven, please remain seated. Thank you for your cooperation.

[foreign language 00:43:23]