So, colleagues, friends, representatives of the Italian and U.S. private sector, the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment is among the strategic projects launched within the G7 to support the development and economic growth of the most fragile nations, particularly in Africa and Asia. When this initiative was launched two years ago, we immediately believed in it because it has the same approach that inspires the Matei Plan for Africa, the plan that Italy is carrying out together with the African nations to encourage quality investments and large projects in the infrastructure, energy, and production field with a focus on training and education in the African continent. It is the same spirit of the Global Gateway, promoted by the European Union, and specifically aimed as well at the African continent. We consider the PGII, the Matei Plan, and the Global Gateway the three pillars of a broader G7 strategy to build a new model of partnership with the African nations. To this end, we intend to create, between these three initiatives, structured synergies and coordinated activities to maximize F4E2. We hope that these synergies will contribute to the development of a new model of partnership between the F4E2 and the European Union. The first element of this synergy, which I am very proud to announce here today, is Italy's choice, through the Matei Plan, to contribute alongside the EU Global Gateway to one of the strategic projects of the PGII. I am referring to the Lobito Corridor, the crucial infrastructure system which aims to connect Angola to Zambia, through the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to connect regional markets to global ones. Another significant step in our commitment is the decision to raise the strategic profile of the PGII through the establishment within the G7 of a secretariat capable of strengthening its implementation and better coordinating the partners. This is essential as collaboration and coordination are critical elements for the G7. The success of the interventions we are carrying out together with the African nations. I think of the excellent synergy that Italy has established with the United States in Kenya, one of the nations where two pilot projects in the renewable energy sector of the Matei Plan, one for the development of biofuels, the other for the production of geothermal energy, are taking shape. To accelerate the implementation of all these initiatives, it is crucial to pool and combine financial resources. We have worked extensively in recent months in this direction, and I am particularly proud to announce the establishment, together with the African Development Bank, of innovative financial instruments, which are open to the contribution of those interested in developing co-investment strategies. And I would like, in this context, to acknowledge the United Arab Emirates for having made an initial contribution to our multidonor fund, a fund that we hope will also grow together with you in the coming months. Alongside all this work, we also intend to support the Virtual Platform for Investments in Africa, launched by the African Union and the OECD, to improve transparency and public policy, on investments in the continent. This is an instrument that aims to enhance the great potential of African nations, which are strengthening their ties through a free trade area on a continental scale. For too long, Africa has been misunderstood and exploited, looked down upon from above. But Africa is instead a continent that can surprise, if put in the conditions to take advantage of what is extraordinary about it. It is up to us to collaborate with African nations and to build with them new development opportunities with a peer-to-peer approach in order to grow together. We want to do it not through lectures and documents, but with facts, turning our intentions into building blocks, answers, and jobs. Here, my wish for each of us is that new synergies and new opportunities, but in particular, concrete answers, may arise from this meeting. Now, the word goes to the President of the United States, Joe Biden, whom I thank again. Thank you very much. Hello, everyone. You may have heard me say this before, but I think we stand at an inflection point in history. It occurs every five or six, seven generations. And the decisions I think we make now are going to determine the course of our future for the next five or six decades. And I truly believe the infrastructure we're building and the investments we're making through PGI are going to help set that course in a fundamentally stronger path than otherwise would be the case. Just look at the progress we've made over the past, over the last year. The Lobito Corridor and Sub-Saharan Africa. We've mobilized 3 billion people for clean energy projects, which will bring clean electricity to 1.5 million families that had no access to it before. We've broken ground on a new data center in Ghana and announced another in Kenya. We're laying fiber optic cables to support secure and affordable, reliable connectivity. And we're developing the first railway line to extend from Angola to DRC, Zambia to the Indian Ocean. I think this is a game changer. I really do. We've got a continent that's going to have over 2 billion people very shortly. And it really is a game changer. We're already seeing goods that normally take up to 45 days of transport now taking only 40 hours. And think of how transformative this is for trade, agribusiness, farming, food security as a whole. I want to thank the Prime Minister Maloney for partnering with us and the EU on this project. I also want to thank President Kishida, Prime Minister Kishida, I should say. I just demoted him. In April, we both came together with President Marcos to launch the Luzon Economic Corridor in the Philippines. It's happening in the Pacific as well. And already we mobilized capital for sectors that are critical to our future. Clean energy, agriculture, semiconductors, and so much more. All told, I'm proud to announce the United States has mobilized more than $60 billion in investments around the world thus far. That's double where we were last year. Now we've still got a long way to go to close the infrastructure gap that holds too many countries back. But together, I think we're showing that democracies can deliver. This is an important moment to be able to do that. And when you focus on people, transparency, and high standards on quality and sustainability, it doesn't inhibit investment. It attracts investment. I got criticized at home for asking whether the federal government invests in something that discourages or encourages private sector to invest. 96% of people asked that it encourages investment, not discourages investment. It attracts investment. And people around this table are proof of that, I would argue. That includes Mr. Fink. I'm calling you Larry. I'm calling you Mr. Fink. But we go back a long way of BlackRock and Mr. Nadella of Microsoft, an outfit that we know well, home. Today, BlackRock and other partners are committing to invest at least $4 billion, $4 billion, toward infrastructure projects that align with our PGI priorities. And Microsoft, Microsoft recently announced $5 billion investment into digital infrastructure including $1 billion for a data center in Kenya. That's a really big deal. This is because the G7 and our partners created opportunities for sound investments in infrastructure. And we mobilized our own capital and created efficient ways to de-risk projects so the private sector could get on board more easily. And you are getting on board. And it's not just U.S. companies. So let me close with this. During the G7 summit, we're addressing a range of issues: clean energy, economic development, global security, food security, orderly migration, digital connectivity. And infrastructure is central to our progress across all these challenges, every one of them. I remember when I introduced the infrastructure bill at home, they said we couldn't get it done. It was only a trillion dollars, $300 billion, and we got it passed. And it's really having an impact on development at home. But this is bigger than that. We're talking about the world. So today, we began PGI's third year. And I would strongly hope we can keep up the momentum. Let's keep finding opportunities to invest in quality physical, digital, and energy infrastructure. Let's keep partnering with each other and the private sector and with the World Bank, with countries around the world to mobilize even more capital. To go from billions, we have to get to the trillions that are needed. And that's what's going to be needed to close this infrastructure gap. At this inflection point, let's keep forging a better future together, because I'm confident we can do it. I know I get accused of being overly optimistic, but I am confident this could be a significant, significant breakthrough. And I thank you again for your partnership, your leadership. And with that, Georgia, I turn it back to you. Thank you very much, Joe. Now I give the floor to the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida. Thank you, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Prime Minister Meloni, President Biden, thank you very much for your leadership in organizing this event on PGII, focusing on Africa, which is extremely timely. Japan initiated TICAD, 30 years ago, and more recently, has been promoting cooperation under FOIP, Free and Open Indo-Pacific. Throughout the years, we have stood by Africa to support African-led growth. In such process, we have put efforts into wider regional development, including the Nakala Corridor, along with the Lobito Corridor, which is advancing under the PGII. The project shall enhance east-west connectivity of Southern Africa, improve the investment climate, and become a catalyst to drive new growth. And as President Biden referred to previously, in April of this year, Japan, together with the United States, announced the development of the Luzon Economic Corridor in the Philippines under PGII. So, PGII is expanding its coverage beyond Africa to Asia. As we have stated, we will make investments around the world, including in Africa, by mobilizing no less than $65 billion of infrastructure assistance and private capital over five years. In summer of next year, we are inviting leaders of African nations to TICAD 9, which will be hosted in Japan. The deliverables of the G7 and PGII will feed into TICAD as we continue to strongly push forward growth in Africa, leveraging quality infrastructure. Thank you very much, Fumio. We now have some intervention from top representatives of leading Italian and American companies. The private sector plays a leading role in the PGII, and so I'm happy to have you here. I give the floor immediately to the CEO of INI, Claudio Descalzi, reminding everyone that we are very late. Thank you, Claudio. Normally, I'm very long, so for that reason, I say that. So let me sincerely thank the Italian Prime Minister and the US President for this opportunity to speak about the effort to foster African socio-economic growth through the lens of the Matei Plan, and in connection with the PGII. The recent European energy crisis has renewed the interest around Africa, but Western companies have already been presenting in this continent for a long time. Energy has almost always been the reason, with hundreds of billions invested, without being able to generate an organic and structured development of the continent. This situation requires a paradigm shift with respect to what has been done in the past. Before investing and looking for commodities for our energy security, we must adopt a political vision capable of closing the gap, enabling Africa to become a partner, playing an equal footing. It will not be an easy task. After more than a century of ineffective presence, we must regain credibility, not imposing our culture and investing only for our energy security, but expressing real interest for local needs, and above all, taking risks with and for them. For example, talking about sharing risks, more than 80% of the gas that any has produced in Africa in the last decade has been destined to the African nations to improve energy access, instead of exporting it in a more secure and profitable way. This approach created a different relationship based on mutual trust, allowing us, during the energy crisis due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to quickly find gas available for Italy's energy security without reducing the quantities given to the local market. Another example is our Agri-Feedstock Initiative, which was referred to by the Italian Prime Minister and planned to be scaled up by the Maté Plan. In several African nations, we produce vegetable oil for our bio-finance to the carbonized transport sector, generating jobs for 1 million farmers by 2030, and developing a long-lasting agriculture sector. In the last 10 years, Eni has invested nearly half a billion euros in 13 African countries in economic diversification, education, agriculture, education, health care, water access, sanitation, and clean cooking. The effort of the private companies alone, without a convergent and structural political will, is unlikely to bring sustainable results. The Maté Plan calls for a shared action among Africa, G7 members, and other involved stakeholders in the context of the PGII. This means working together with the same purpose and for the long term. This will change the situation for Africa and also for the entire world. I really think that Africa's future will determine our own future. Thank you. Thank you very much, Claudio. Now I will give the floor to the CEO of Enel, Flavio Cattaneo. Please. Thank you. Good evening to everybody. It's an honor to be here with you today. Let me introduce the Enel group in a very nutshell in order to respect the three minutes speaking time. Enel is the world's largest private operator in renewable energy and the distribution sector, with an international footprint. Indeed, we are present in 28 countries and five continents. This year we have reached 82% of our production emission free. This is important because it is a signal towards our way is directed. Enel is so part of the steering committee of the Italian government initiative focused on Africa which synergies with the partnership for global infrastructure investment and with the EU global gateway where Enel actively participate. In Morocco, South Africa and Zambia, we have already invested about 2.5 billion in renewable sector. We have also a pipeline of project at the different stage in other countries such as Kenya and we are looking for other sustainable opportunities through government missions. For us, Africa represent an opportunity. I want to explain better. It is an opportunity because Africa has a higher potential for renewable generation compared to Europe, given its abundance of renewable sources. Furthermore, the development of technology can help to increase the productivity of plants and consequently to reduce the price of power. This could open up for Africa the opportunity to export clean energy to Europe through a submarine cable between Tunisia and Italy, helping Africa to reduce its dependency on other countries. And at the same time, Europe could benefit from a decrease in energy prices and a diversification in suppliers. And Matei's plan is exactly going in this direction. Of course, to transform the potential into a concrete opportunity, the right conditions must be put in place. We also believe that Africa could be an attractive labor pool. But nowadays, we are facing some issues related to the lack of local specialized labor. For this reason, we have created in Morocco a Pan-Africa Center for Renewable Energy Training and through the Rest for Africa Foundation, of which Enel is the main funding member, we support training programs and initiatives. We have also been working on innovative projects such as a pilot one for the production of green hydrogen in Tunisia in partnership with Eni. I'd like to conclude by saying that the presence of Enel and other big companies able to give their contribution to Africa also created local specialized expertise will help to create true partnerships with African countries. Thank you. Thank you very much, Flavio. Now I want to welcome and give the floor to the CEO of Microsoft, Nadella, please. Thank you very much, Prime Minister Maloney and President Biden for the opportunity this afternoon to really participate in this very important discussion about scaling partnerships for global infrastructure and investments. To support very high-quality infrastructure financing in low- and middle-income countries. It's encouraging to see the partnerships continue to expand and gain momentum. As this partnership is recognized, we are entering a very new age driven by AI which has made clear the critical importance of both digital infrastructure, connectivity in every sector of the economy and every corner of the world as well as energy. There's no doubt that AI is amongst the most transformed technologies of our time and we believe it will fundamentally bend the productivity curve for every individual organization and industry sector, and help us address some of our most pressing global challenges, including in the world's low and middle-income countries. At Microsoft, we have a saying where we say that we only succeed if the world around us is fundamentally succeeding. Therefore, we are very, very focused on ensuring that every country can benefit from this broad technological shift while mitigating its risks. This presents a pretty unique opportunity to help address the economic development and societal priorities everywhere in the world, whether it's small businesses becoming more productive, whether it's the multinationals in every part of the world becoming more competitive globally, governments becoming more efficient, improving health outcomes and education outcomes. Over the past three months, for example, we have invested $5 billion in cloud and AI infrastructure in Indonesia and Malaysia and Thailand as well as in Kenya together with our partners, G42 and the UAE. And this is work designed to drive that broad spectrum economic growth, innovation, and connectivity to driving productivity. But we recognize that this requires more than just infrastructure, which is why we have also launched initiatives to provide the broad-based AI skills to centralize the strategic exchange relationship and psychologists and stakeholders where their concept of the underworld to turn the highest motor cloud where there is no such RYIB. It's true, because it includes development in a single all the carbon-free energy, as well as efforts to develop greener steel and concrete to build our data centers and also make our silicon more carbon-free and efficient. At the same time, this ambition is not something that any one company or, for that matter, any one country can accomplish on its own, and it requires broad partnerships across private and public sectors. For example, we need regulatory innovation to enable multiple countries to share digital infrastructure when located in neighboring regions. That's why what we did in Kenya, where we created a trusted data zone for all of the East African community in partnership with the government and G42. It ensures governments and companies across the region can store their data in our data center with assurance that their own privacy, cybersecurity, and other legal rules and protections will continue to be applied. This is just one example of the type of partnership and innovation in regional areas. This is a regulatory environment that is required in order to be able to really drive this next generation of infrastructure. To close, I'm incredibly optimistic about our collective opportunity, and I'm looking forward to working together to help people and organizations around the world to apply this new generation of technology to grow and thrive. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Now I will give the floor to the CEO of BlackRock, Fing. Prime Minister Maloney, President Biden, for excellencies, thank you very much. Thank you. I'm honored to participate here today about a conversation on the partnership on global infrastructure. Last November, BlackRock had a chance to offer some thoughts about how the G7 and the multinational multilateral development banks could unlock more private capital for infrastructure in the emerging world. The IMF and the World Bank were created 80 years ago when banks, not markets, financed most things. Today, the financial world has flipped. The capital markets are the biggest source of private sector financing, and unlocking that money requires a different approach than the bank balance sheet model of yesterday. There's still a lot of work to be done, but reforms over the past eight months have resulted in billions of dollars of new funding for the developing country's infrastructure. That's what you saw last week with the announcement of the Investor Coalition. BlackRock, GIP, KKR, and the World Bank have been working together to create a new infrastructure for the developing country. Other major firms will deploy $25 billion in Asia's emerging economies. In a way, it's an Indo-Pacific counterpoint to Italy's Mare plan, which is helping African economies grow, and that's important. Every country in the world needs a growth strategy. But if I could convey one more important message today, it would be the countries that need growth most right now are not just emerging economies. Great economic powers, including the G7, are in fact on the list; indeed, growth going forward. All of us are staring down a growth dilemma. Whether we solve it or not, it's a significant economic fork in the road for our countries. Today, the G7 average debt to GDP is 129, 129%. No matter how much we tax, how much we cut or reduce that debt, it will not be enough. The only way we could achieve this future is to have a growth dilemma. The future of growth is by truly growing out of it. But just growth is becoming more important because we need to be focusing on our fiscal health. It is also becoming much more difficult to achieve. Within 25 years, most of the G7 countries will be on demographic downslope. Working age population will decline. The ceiling on growth will get lower and lower. This is why building new infrastructure is critical, especially through public, private partnerships. Infrastructure investments are a counterforce to high-debt, low-growth economies. It does the opposite; it catalyzes growth without necessarily adding to public debt. This is true for every kind of infrastructure, from airports to data centers, and importantly, in the future, AI. With AI, the infrastructure is actually a double catalyst. The electricity demand from data centers is causing the U.S. energy sector to grow after 15 years of stagnation. AI also will make people more efficient, meaning our smaller future workforce can still become more productive than the larger current workforce. Building this infrastructure for growth will require something from us. It will require pragmatism. We'll need pragmatism in financing. Some of the new data centers require one gigawatt of power. At BlackRock, we estimate the infrastructure alone, this is before chips. It could be as much as $10 to $12 billion per project. Between now and 2040, the world will need to spend $75 trillion repairing old and building new infrastructure. Asking taxpayers to shoulder the $75 trillion of new debt is not something countries can fiscally or fairly do for our future. Instead, there is a huge, vast pool of private capital. We need to build infrastructure. We need to build infrastructure. We need to build infrastructure. The cost for surplus-hit energy wants to take on additional costs. We need to build opportunity. It requires pragmatism and policy, specifically permitting, especially at the G7 level. When President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act two years ago, laws clean energy infrastructure which projected to reduce 710 million metric tons of carbon emissions by 2030; if permitting delays continue, the new production may be only under 500. This is a lesson for all of us. We will struggle to attend to nuance. We need to be focusing on the pragmatism of permitting to move forward. And we need pragmatism for energy. Much of the new infrastructure being built is for renewables. BlackRock recently invested in Africa's largest wind farm near Lake Turkana in Kenya. It is now supplying about 12 percent of Kenya's electricity. But without advances in storage, wind, and solar, we are not going to be able to provide a constant, reliable flow of electricity. The world can't function without that. So with data centers at the bedrock of a digital economy, and I've seen more than half of the electricity may have to come from dispatchable sources like nuclear, natural gas, or hydro, otherwise data centers will not be complete with just wind and solar. The world has many challenges. But my gosh. I am more optimistic than ever we're going to be able to achieve them. We have to talk about them. And we have to be pragmatic. And I'm here to just talk about that logic. We need to be growing by building infrastructure. We can build infrastructure by unlocking private investments. We can unlock private investments by being pragmatic about permitting energy policies. And I can promise you, we will be your partner. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now the— You just said we need you. We need you. Now I'll give the floor to the CEO of Casa de Positi and Prestiti, Dario Scannabiego. Dario. Many thanks, Prime Minister. It's really an honor to be here and represent Casa de Positi and Prestiti. Africa's population, the youngest globally, is projected to grow by 70 percent and reach 2.5 billion by 2050. At present, local job creation cannot keep pace with the rising workforce while security and climate challenges are contributing to ever-increasing displacement both within and outside the continent. Still, Africa remains a continent of unexploited potential growth and opportunities. In this context, promoting long-term partnerships that are based on equal footing and are fully committed to local needs represents to us the only way to support African countries. And this was exactly the spirit of Enrico Mattei, the founder of ENI, who has inspired the new Mattei Panel for Africa by the Italian government. Now, the investment needed to tackle climate and social challenges in Africa require a systemic approach through a combination of three elements. First, public resources to provide risk mitigation and technical support, which are crucial elements to prepare bankable projects. Then financial contribution and on-the-ground knowledge by multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions to create an enabling environment for investment. And really, the most important, the most important, the most important, the most important, the most important, the most important, the most important, the most important, the most important, a greater and deeper involvement of the private sector. We also need to coordinate and cooperate more openly among DFI's and with local promoters to build and share pragmatically, I would say, concrete project pipelines. And it is also key to support development of sound local financial systems. Casa Deposit Empresa City is rapidly increasing its operation in developing countries. We have been doing so thanks to our considerable firepower and the diversified tools and mechanisms toolbox. We have around €10 billion of public resources that we manage in this area, including one of the biggest European instruments for climate finance, which is the €4.4 billion Italian Climate Fund. And our main focus is Africa, with the aim, again, of supporting the MATEI Plan. We are currently reinforcing our cooperation with local partners, such as the African Development Bank, with whom we are structuring four flagship initiatives that will mobilize up to €500 million from the Italian cooperation system, promoting high-impact projects in Africa. And I thank President Adesina for the wonderful cooperation. In the context of the Italian G7 presidency, Casa di Positano Presidio has also been collaborating with peer institutions to support the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investments. We are chairing the expert group tasked with developing solutions for a more effective mobilization of PGII. In the context of the Italian G7 presidency, Casa di Positano Presidio has also been collaborating particularly in Africa, and we are defining a pipeline of projects in which G7 DFIs can potentially invest together. In the coming months, our expert group will deliver the 2024 Joint Action Proposal, which will focus on country-based programs. In the meantime, we have been working to support the existing PGII flagship initiatives, amongst them, as mentioned by Prime Minister Meloni, the Lobito Infrastructure Corridor, where the Italian intervention ends up providing both equity and debt financing to the main sources and lenders of the project, for a total amount of around $320 million, and this is also in cooperation with SACE. To conclude, Casa di Positano Presidio feels a profound responsibility. As a development finance institution, we know that our role in fostering investments in developing countries in cooperation with our peers can make the difference. As Italians, we feel it is our duty, for historical and cultural reasons, to work hand-in-hand with partners in the Global South for common prosperity. Many thanks. Thank you very much, Dario. Now, the CEO of SACE, Ricci. You have the floor. Thank you very much, and thank you, Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr. President. What I would like to say is how SACE can promote and support the global infrastructure investment in Africa together with the Piano Mattei. We would like to start from saying that, talking about Africa, what we have done in the past, so far we have supported 30 billion projects in Africa. From the inception of the Piano Mattei, we have increased by supporting 5 billion projects in Africa. So in the latest 20, 18 months, we have supported 5 billion projects in Africa, and we are at the pipeline we are following for the time being. But let me say, how do we do that? We have started by being local, because if you are not local, you cannot support projects in Africa. And we have opened, so far, three projects. The first is the Piano Mattei, which is a project. One is in Johannesburg, one is in Nairobi, through our participation in the African Trade Insurance Company, and the other one is in Cairo, and we are about to open a fourth in Rabat in Morocco. And we are working together with all the institutions, with Casa de Pozio Press and all the other financial institutions to support other projects. For the time being, we are working on the Lobito project, as Darius Canapierco has said, and on other transactions whereby we are trying on one side to put in contact Italian companies with local companies, because for us it's very important that there is a development just in case there is a development of the local society. Finally, I wish to say that, based also on our experience in terms of supporting infrastructure projects, just to mention some of the projects. We have so far supported, we have supported, for example, hospitals, we have supported smart cities, we have supported hydro projects. We wish to say that we want to give and to support and use our capabilities to foster more the development of Africa. Thank you. Thank you very much. I would like now to give the floor to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Ursula, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, dear Giorgia, Prime Minister Meloni, and President Biden. So I recall very well that it has been two years since we started this initiative, and it was in the wake of the pandemic. It was at a time where we had the energy crisis because of the war of aggression by Russia and Ukraine, and we had a food crisis. And this was the time where we joined forces and said we need a major investment program for infrastructure. For infrastructure abroad. PGII was born. The European Union is contributing 300 billion through Global Gateway, and it's fantastic that we have the METEI plan now also joining. We wanted to create an alternative, an alternative for this infrastructure investment, and it is not only the financial firepower that is impressive, but PGII is sustainable. It's good for the planet, but it's also good for the country's finances, if I may say so. This combination makes our offer different from others. Important is that we want to bring long-lasting benefits to the local economy of our partners, and of course we need the strength of the private sector. And therefore it's wonderful that you are here tonight. We are; the PGII is designed to support basically your global investments. And at the same time, of course, we rely a lot on you and your knowledge and your expertise. You are pioneering the technologies of the future. We just heard it. You are pioneering the energy of the future. If I look at the clean hydrogen, for example, or at the topic of climate resilient agriculture, and I could go on and on and on. What I also think is very important, you have a vast know-how to train the local workforce, and also how to step up new industries in other continents. So we, of course, have our part to do too, for example, to create the legal framework that is necessary. And Larry Fink, I heard you on speed and permitting. Indeed, it was exactly in that crisis that we increased drastically the speed of permitting, for example, for renewables in the European Union. So we should copy that when we are in projects, for example, in Africa, that we make sure that the legal framework is conducive and it helps you to speed up because, yes, we know how important that is. Our part is also to invest in education for the local workforce, be it vocational training, be it schools or universities. So it's a fantastic mixture, and this makes our partnership unique. PGI means top quality from our companies. It means transparency of our investments, and it means trust between equal partners. So thank you very much for having us here tonight. Thank you, Ursula. Please, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. Thank you, Georgia, and thank you to President Biden for bringing us together. It's also great to see other leaders, including global business leaders like my old friends Satya and Larry. Good to see you guys again. Two years ago in Germany, as Ursula pointed out, we made a bold commitment. Together, government and business alike, we pledged to mobilize $600 billion to meet the demand of infrastructure, infrastructure financing in low- and middle-income countries. And we pledged to do so in a way that prioritized environmental standards, the green transition, strong labor, and gender equality for everyone. This work is about fostering the kind of stability and prosperity that has benefits for us all. We've made important progress together already. Last year at the G7 in Hiroshima, Canada announced $335 million for infrastructure initiatives focused on combating the climate crisis and building climate resilience. And we also committed $750 million through FinDev Canada, our development finance institution, to expand their global efforts to meet demand for infrastructure and to promote sustainable and inclusive development. Of course, there's so much more to be done. Canada will continue to leverage the expertise of our private sector and invest in growth that benefits everyone. To build on our progress, we'll deliver an additional $720 million to FinDev Canada for its new concession to the National Finance Facility to provide low-interest financing for sustainable development in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Indo-Pacific, and, of course, Africa. We're doing this to lower the risks for private sector partners and ensure they're able to put their capital to work in priority markets to solve today's big challenges. We're also providing almost $127 million in loans and grants to support an equitable energy transition, specifically in South Africa. Like Italy's ambitious 'Made for Africa' Plan, these initiatives support Africa's clean energy initiatives. On top of that, we're providing $510 million to the Inter-American Development Bank's Net Zero and Climate Resilience Accelerator Fund. This funding will support the development of new technologies and business models. It'll also help communities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean adapt to the effects of climate change. And finally, we're providing $45 million to the Private Insurance Development Group, which provides financing for sustainable infrastructure in African and Asian countries. There is, of course, lots more to do, but Canada will be there as a partner as we invest together to build a better world for everyone. Thank you very much, Justin. I want to welcome also the presence of some multilateral development banks, so I would like to give the floor to the President of the World Bank, Banga. Thank you very much. I hope I'm not making you speechless, but we're here discussing jobs for Africa and economic development. So I'm going to talk about two things. The first is the strategy the bank is pursuing on creating jobs in Africa. There are five pillars. The first pillar is electricity. 600 million Africans do not have electricity. We have committed to connect 300 million by 2030. 250 with us, 50 with my partner, Akin. That is going to cost $30 billion from IDA as well as the private sector. Second, infrastructure. Africa is a very poor participant in trade. The principal reason is it's impossible to move things around, and their value-added infrastructure is very poor. We're very focused on building rails, roads, bridges, agricultural warehouses. Third, health care, not only for the people of Africa, but the jobs it will create in providing the health care. We're going to connect 1.5 billion people around the world, including about 700 million of which about 700 billion will be in Africa, to primary healthcare with Japan's help by 2030. Fourth, agribusiness. Africa can produce food for the world. Africa has water, but Africa has no irrigation. 6% of Africa is irrigated. 37% of Asia is irrigated. Africa has much less fertilizer use: one-third the output per acre than other areas. We can change that. It's possible to do so with focus. And finally, tourism. Those five areas are all focused on jobs. 450 million Africans will come eligible for jobs by 2030. Currently, Africa is on a pathway to generate 125 million jobs. Forecasts are not destiny. We can change it, and the idea is to make a difference. Second is the private sector. We've created a private sector lab. Larry is a part of that lab. We have many recommendations. There are two that matter today. The first one has to do with regulatory policy. And Larry talked about pragmatism. In the case of electricity in Africa, the first thing we're doing is 10 countries; we're making a list of which regulatory policy needs to change to enable the private sector to feel confident that their money is best invested in that country as compared to another one. That work is beginning. Second, is the issue of guarantees. The private sector wanted de-risking. We have launched a guarantee platform on Twitter. On the 1st of July, it will triple the volume of guarantees that the World Bank offers. That's the two tangible things we're onto. So, 300 billion people connected to electricity between us, 30 billion of investment there; private sector enablement. Those are the two big tasks we're into. That's why I'm happy to be here. I think PGII, I think The Gateway, I think The Material Plan, and I think RISE, which didn't get mentioned. But RISE is critical to change the use of minerals out of Africa, not as a mineral to be exported, but as value-added manufacturing on the ground in Africa. Again, something we're exporting. So thank you for the opportunity. I'm glad to have a chance to do this job. I told you earlier, I wake up every morning. It's a privilege to be a part of this. Thank you. Thank you very much, President Banga. Now the president of the African Development Bank, Adesina. You have the floor. Thank you very much, Prime Minister Maloney, President Biden, my dear brother and friend, Prime Minister Trudeau, Prime Minister Kishida, Your Excellencies. I wish to first and foremost thank you for inviting me to this G7 Summit. As I sit around here at this table, I am the happiest man around here because we're talking about Africa. And so I'm like, bring it on, President Biden just told Larry, we need you, so I need all of you. So I'm kind of really excited about that. Well, that's because Africa's infrastructure gap is significant. It's $68 billion to $108 billion a year. The African Development Bank is the largest financier of infrastructure in Africa outside of China. We invested more than $50 billion in infrastructure that goes into rail, ports, airports, digital infrastructure, and the list goes on. We supported the Nakala Corridor and the barrier corridor that Prime Minister Kishida was talking about, but also what Larry was talking about in Kenya, the Lake Chukana project. The Kasungula Bridge today that links Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia was funded by the bank. We funded with a billion dollars the 1,100-kilometer road that links Ethiopia all the way to Nairobi or to Mombasa. And that has increased trade between both countries by 400%. That's the power of infrastructure. And I think that's why I really applaud what the G7 is doing, both President Biden and Prime Minister Maloney, with your work on the Matei Plan for Africa and the PGII that President Biden has been leading us on. We are also partnering with China. We are partnering with the U.S., as Amos is over there, President Biden. I work very closely with him. On the corridor, which is Lobito Corridor, Angola, Zambia, and DRC, we're going to put in $500 million on the Zambia part to make that corridor work. We are also financing that corridor, which is Tanzania-DRC, to Burundi, which is $3.2 billion for rail corridor that we are supporting. And we have several other things. But I think the issue is how do we get bankable projects, because a lack of enough bankable projects is often the limiting factor. We have an infrastructure project preparation facility, which is called NEPAD, Project Infrastructure Preparation Facility. It's $126 million, but guess what? We use it to mobilize more than $26 billion downstream of investments. So you're talking of a ratio of 1 to 200. So that kind of facility is very much needed. I also want to thank the G7 for your support. For the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa. Thank you, Prime Minister Maloney. Thank you for putting that at the top of the agenda in the ministerial and the central bank meeting. But also thank all of the G7 for your contribution of $150 million towards that, because AGEA will help us on net zero transition. And I want to particularly also thank my brother, Dario Pieco of CDP, for your great work and support for us on AGEA. Let me also say that risk, I think Larry was very right, and so is also AGEA, risk is very important. So we deploy a whole series of instruments, partial risk guarantees, partial credit guarantees. And so we, just like AGEA was saying, we put all that together to form an Africa Guarantee Platform that will deal with project risk, market risk, financial risk, and also political risk, which is very important, so we can actually do risk infrastructure. I also want to just close by saying that we have something called the Africa Investment Forum. It's a platform we put together five years ago. When people talk about Africa, they say, well, there are no bankable projects, nobody's going to finance it, it's not correct. You know, we put it together, and in five years, we've been able to mobilize more than $180 billion of investment interest to Africa in various parts of infrastructure. So we do know that Africa is not as risky as people say. Moody's Analytics did a 14-year accumulated study, and they found that in terms of default rate on infrastructure, Africa has the lowest 1.9%, you know, compared to the rest of the world. So it's not as risky as that. So being around this table, I like anything Baobab. I'm very happy to be surrounded by a lot of leaders and also a lot of people who want to put money into Africa. I am the happiest person here today, and thank you for making my day a great day. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, President Adesina. And now the Chancellor Cho Schultz came just in time. So the floor is yours. This is how our industry works. Thank you. Thank you for convening us on the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. And let me congratulate Georgia on the Matei Plan, which is a very promising initiative and will, no doubt, generate positive outcomes. When we launched PGI at the ELMO G7 Summit two years ago, we pledged to make our partners from the Global South a better offer on their infrastructure needs and to, within five years, mobilize US$600 billion in public and private investment to this end. We have to deliver. I think this is the promise, and we will stick to that. Let me highlight three points. Firstly, I very much welcome that at Street7 we are stepping up our coordination to deliver on our common goal of fostering high-quality global infrastructure. This is an important step and a sign of our collective determination. And secondly, Germany is delivering on the economic corridors we have announced last year. Concretely, together with the German private sector, we are investing more than €1 billion along the Lobito corridor. This corridor will better link Central Africa to G7 markets and boost the cooperation between the G7 and the African continent. And thirdly, my key takeaway from the G20 Compact with Africa conference in Berlin last year is that African leaders are calling for a closer energy cooperation. Germany stands ready as a partner. This is why I am particularly happy to announce that Germany is joining forces with Namibia in the field of renewable energy and green hydrogen. Germany supports the production of green hydrogen in Namibia at large scale by using foreign trade promotion instruments. This way, we are aiming to support the mobilization of a multi-billion euro private investment project. Together with the German private sector and our Namibian partners, we are setting up the biggest hydrogen projects in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, Germany will support the development of a green hydrogen and renewable energy industry in Namibia with at least €100 million of direct public support. In Elma, we made a strong pledge on global infrastructure. Today, I can declare that we are delivering. Thank you. Thank you very much, Olaf, and thank you all for this very important moment that we had in the Italian leaders' summit of the presidency of the G7. I think it was very precious to have you all here for what came out in this important moment were basically two things. The first one is that all of us, we understand that Africa is not looking for charity. They ask for the possibility to compete on an equal footing, and you cannot do that if you don't have infrastructure. So we understand it, and we know it's the priority we have to work on. The second thing we understand is that the governments cannot do it alone, the private sector cannot do it alone, the multilateral development banks cannot do it alone, but we can do it all together. So it's very important that we show with this event that we want to transform our commitments in building blocks. So we want to be concrete. Thank you very much for this meeting, and thank you very much for the work we will do together. And good evening.