Italy has joined forces with Europe and the United States with a pledge to invest up to 320 million dollars in a new African railway line as part of efforts to boost sustainable development, US president Joe Biden stated late Thursday, thanking premier Giorgia Meloni.
"Today Italy joined the efforts of the US and the European Union to promote sustainable development along the Lobito Corridor," Biden told the G7 summit taking place in Borgo Ignazia, Puglia, according to a White House statement.
"We’re developing the first railway line to extend from Angola to DRC, Zambia to the Indian Ocean," Biden said.
"Italy has pledged to strengthen collaboration and mobilise an additional aggregate contribution of up to $320 million in investment to support the main rail infrastructure and related projects, with the aim of creating further synergies with Agia (Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa)," he said.
I want to thank Prime Minister Meloni, for partnering with us and the EU on this project," Biden said.
In his remarks, Biden hailed historic progress made on the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), launched at the G7 summit in 2021.
The PGI aims to mobilise $600 billion in private infrastructure funding by 2027 to rival Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative global development strategy that has bolstered China's political clout in developing countries.
PGI is now focused on developing economic corridors, including the Lobito Corridor and the Luzon Corridor in the Philippines.
