US President Joe Biden
ISTANBUL: US President Joe Biden kicked off his second democracy summit on Wednesday by pledging the country to spend $690 million to advance democracy programs around the world.
And the “Associated Press” agency quoted a high-ranking official in the US administration (which it did not name) as saying that the Biden administration intends to seize the opportunity of the two-day summit with the aim of focusing on making “technology work in favor of democracy, not against it.”
US President Joe Biden’s administration had invited 120 world leaders to attend the summit in Washington, DC.
“The United States pledged at the beginning of the summit to spend $690 million to promote democracy programs around the world,” the official added, preferring not to be named because he is not authorized to disclose to the media.
The new funding focuses on programs that support free and independent media, fight corruption, promote human rights, develop technology that improves democracy, and support free and fair elections, according to the same source.
The administration also reached agreement with 10 other countries on guidelines for how governments can use surveillance technology, the official said.
The world has witnessed turbulent 15 months since the first summit of democracy in December 2021, as the world emerged from the Corona pandemic, Russia launched its war against Ukraine, and tension escalated between Washington and Beijing against the backdrop of China’s increasing military and economic influence in the Indian and Pacific region and beyond.
The United States hosted the last summit alone, and this time recruited 4 co-hosts – Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia – after ambassadors from China and Russia criticized the first summit, accusing Biden of causing global division with his Cold War mentality.
(Anatolia)