Europe's 'Three Seas Initiative' aims to build infrastructure, curb China's influence

Europe’s ‘Three Seas Initiative’ summit has begun virtually on October 19 with 12 nations between Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas wanting to jointly develop infrastructure. As per Deutsche Welle report, the United States has offered its support to prevent China from interfering further into Europe. 

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski had previously said that this summit would be ‘extraordinary’. He has predicted that after several years of ‘three seas’ being just a political project, it would develop into an economic project. According to the official website of the initiative, the main aims this year are to promote the cooperation for the development of infrastructure in energy, transport and digital sectors.

Apart from that, the 12 nations would also incorporate fostering economic growth, ensuring energy security, boosting Europe’s competitiveness, enforcing transatlantic cooperation and achieving climate goals through smart investments. The members of the ‘Three Seas’ initiative include Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. 

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Sluggish progress due to lack of funds

Even though the initiative has tremendous potential, till now the progress has been reportedly sluggish owing to lack of funding. The member states have been comparatively slow in paying into the funds set up by a Polish or Romanian bank. However, in February 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly pledged $1 billion for the fund.  Further funding measures are expected to be discussed at the initiative’s fifth summit taking place in the Estonian capital Tallinn. 

This meeting comes when the United States is especially keen to curb China’s influence on mobile phone technologies with its 5G network security plan. As per reports, it was also one of the driving factors behind US Secretary of State’s Europe visit in August.  "The tide is turning against the Chinese Communist Party and its efforts to control information," Pompeo had said in earlier this month during a visit to Slovenia. It was when a joint declaration was signed effectively ban the Chinese technology giant Huawei from doing business in the European Union (EU).

Live link for the summit:

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