slipped out as the preservation of the ancient village that for the senior village awful ifta was testimony for his story of the place in 2012 campaign as one a court case that put a freeze on the plans there, hoping that her pursuit in lifters, history can be repeated, harry force it al jazeera lifter, west drusilla's. ah . all right, let's get a round up of the top stories on our g, like germany plans to ban unvaccinated people from much of public life to stop a 4th wave of covered 19 infections. the u. s. is placing tighter restrictions for international travelers as the on the cross very and continues to spread. run a fight is variance with science and speed. not chaos and confusion. just like we beat back over 19 in the spring, a more powerful version deliver in the summer and fall. as result,

we enter this winter from a position of strength compared to where america was last winter. and the last christmas you're in a one percent of american adults were fully vaccinated. this christmas, that number will be 7772 percent, including more than 86 percent of seniors the most vulnerable population. the u. s . secretary of state antony blank and has met russia's foreign minister, sergey love rav. as the divide between moscow and washington widens, lincoln says he remains concerned over what he called russia's aggressive policy towards ukraine. leverage his adamant, russia will protect its interests. tensions remain high of russia's military build up near the border with ukraine. the biden administration is resurrecting former u. s. president. donald trump's controversial remain in mexico policy after a court order. the policy requires asylum seekers to stay outside the u. s. while they wait for their hearings safely slammed, get their feet was quantified last week by the election commission because he was

convicted of war crimes in 2015, but appealed for a get death together to celebrate the court ruling after he was reinstated to run for president, the election is in 3 weeks. the united nations fears ethiopia could descend into sectarian violence that could fracture the country un humanitarian chief is wanting, its growing instability could see a repeat of the arctic axis from afghanistan in august. the united nations says it needs a record 41000000000 dollars next year to meet global humanitarian needs. iran has submitted a draft to draft proposals to european powers, negotiating the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal. the 7th round of talks to be held in vienna. those are the headlines inside stories. next. me

an attempt to rival china, bells and rude initiative, b u and veils a major global infrastructure plan. the goal to invest in developing countries and boost trade links with the rest of the world. but why the interest now and tell the book compete with beijing? this is in science story. ah hello and welcome to the program. i'm how am i here? dean? it's been described as a roadmap for major investments and infrastructure worldwide. the european union's

global gateway strategy is seen as a challenge to china's belt and roads initiative. the plan to raise $340000000000.00 to finance infrastructure. it will focus on transport, health, education, and digital and climate projects. in asia, africa, the middle east and latin america. they, you is china, the biggest trading partner and the projects would allow it to promote its geopolitical influence. aging has extended its own reach during the 8 years since it launched its own initiative. while the belts and ruins program a force in 2013 its president. c g king's signature project to connect china. so the rest of the world, beijing is investing more than $800000000000.00 over $13000.00 projects. 165 countries in return, china gets access to the wrong materials. it needs to few its growth. but critics

say the initiative has pushed many countries deeply into debt. will the european commission president sends the book will be a trusted partner and will provide high quality projects. we want to take a different approach. we want to show that a democratic value driven approach can deliver on the most pressing challenges, we want to show that it can on one hand, meet no local needs. but also on the other hand, to tackle the global challenges we have. and thus, in a way also of course, benefit the european union. ah, well, let's bring in our guests. vin, bozeman is the director of the africa program at the carnegie endowment for international peace. in washington, d. c. in brussels,

we're joined by louisa santos, the deputy director general at the business europe. that's a lobbying group representing businesses in europe. and victor go is the vice president of the center for china and globalization, and he joins us from beijing warm welcome to all of you. on this initiative inside story, let's start in europe, louise the sun. so was your reaction? see the launch of the global gateway. what are your initial impressions? good afternoon, everyone. well, our impression is positive. we see this as a strategic approach from europe and new way of relationship with its main trading partners. but also we did neighbors developing countries. it's also a way of your show that it as a model, an economic model, but also to political. margot death is an alternative to all those that exist that

including developed and we can issue. it's also very important for us because it includes, apart from the public finance and the public sector, an important role for the private sector. i mean, the money that we are talking about will come a lot from companies. so companies need also to relating his projects. and from our perspective, it is a very good initiative. and wanda was long overdue. let's not forget your piece already. the largest owner in the world, the largest, the 3rd. what we are doing now is trying to have a more strategic approach and more team europe approach. trying to prioritize different initiatives and putting them on their common umbrella, the global gateway, about the prospective then from team europe. say not this me and what are your thoughts about this proposal?

it seems that from the business community in europe, it seems to be warm. the received, how do you think developing nations are likely to view this potential extra sources of investments? so i think it's a generally a welcome initiatives that finally there can you get in europe more broadly, is now thinking about infrastructure invested in public services in developing countries, as is from the perspective of africa. because for a long time, this has been a major clarity for african countries that they were in need. and still, i need all investment in infrastructure and public services to be able to power the economic transformation to convert to the rest of the world to be able to diversify their economies, which are in africa. 8, it has 8 of the walls,

15 these to diversified economies, and that of all gas, minerals and every, every culture goes in these, the incomes of people. so this is, this is a certainly welcome. but i think there's also a lot of a lot of african countries are kind of in a weighted mood because are, you know, there are, there are 3 things that perhaps a lot of law on looking out for number one. whether this initiative is going to try to respond african priorities as defined by africans themselves around johnson infrastructure. i will also around very, very, very recently around with nightenback scenes around pharmaceuticals. you know, the european union and, and maybe you can countries have not supported the initiative other wanted organization to have a temporary i p waiver on technology around x equals 90 bucks in production, but also iraq elicit financials which actually drain resources from africa up to

$90000000.00 per adult. what are the continent receives and development assistance? and what i, you know, this new initiative is going to actually build on the competitive advantage that europe pass around as measured pharmaceuticals and vaccines little's around technology and knowledge transfer. and perhaps the final thing is that a lot of african countries are waiting to see is whether this initiatives response to african priorities in a way that doesn't force africa to engage in this new world war phenomenon that we see plain out in the rest of the world and but the effect verve, they alternative to to the industry as proposed by the european union, and also by the us. the main alternative would be the chinese beltran rude initiative. do you think that's response a to african priorities?

so what is it, what is the very interesting with chinese engagement in africa? ah, we know which kind of accelerates ed for were on the year 2000 and which eventually became subsumed under that builder with initiative of 2013 is that, you know, the way china has a, a new approach. this engagement is that they come way then explicit transaction that they once resources and, and he's at the beginning, it was really around obtaining a natural resources, oil, minerals, or tim by agriculture products to power after china's double digit economic growth at the time. right? so it was usually at the time a very explicit transaction that they wanted. what chinese entities anyways, wanted these resources and an exchange they were willing to invest in, ah, at least some of the priorities that african countries that identified around

infrastructure. and i'll give you some, i'll strike in statistics, you know, which were published at just about a week ago before the start of the, for on china, africa corporation. we just did 2 days ago. so from the year 2000, 22020, over this 20 year period, china helped african countries build more than 30000 kilometers of roads and railway. more than 80 large scale are facilities funded over 130 medical facilities, et cetera, et cetera. but at the same time, at, sorry to jump in there, but at the same time and, and i do want to stay on this too long. at the same time, africa is still getting quite a lot in terms of aids, in terms of treats from europe and the united states. and so it is, the figures think cut both ways, but i do want to bring in victor, go who is joining us from beijing this evening. victor with her that european

business is very keen to just to get involved in the a, the game of for bridging this infrastructure gap. this is something that china has been doing with the belt and root initiative since 2013. does china welcome this. a competition shall we say, or is china is somewhat intimidated that the no longer the for the lens are that that countries will go to get to get these big infrastructure projects done. well, 1st of all, if the global gateway is truly meant for building up connectivity and infrastructure in developing countries, including african countries, them all, the better is not only are come, it's not a competition. it is very much welcomed, not only by china, but by all the receiving countries. however, if you listen to president aah along the layers,

speech about the global gateway there, you need to worry about it because i hope global gateway is not going to be part of your sized and used for ideological agenda. and the, if competition does happen, we all welcome ads and we hope it will be competition on equal terms rather than on political agenda or by politicizing such infrastructure and connectivity. we all know all african centers in particular suffer from colonialism for several 100 years. and when the british colonists left africa infrastructure was in shamble, and many african cultures are not connected with each other. and they need to fly to european capitals for transit back to african capitals. so it is a shame and everyone you do pitching to build up connectivity in africa as well as in other parts of the world. so from the chinese perspective, we're woke up generally investments infrastructure and connectivity. louisa santa

us, a from business, a europe that we have heard there that about china. welcome to the competition, but is weary of the political under tunes of this? do you see political undertones and the global gateway initiative? no, i think it's clear that the model is different from the chinese model. a global gateway is based on inclusiveness is based on transparency is based on reciprocity, but definitely maybe these principles are not totally in line with what china wants . but i mean, i think that and we always been very clear also as, as, as business we have already infrastructure in place that was billed under the belt and go the initiative. i think it doesn't make sense to create parallel initiatives

when we have already infrastructure there, it makes sense that we create connections. but of course, if we do this, and if we do this under the global gateway with european money, we need to do it with the european rules. and i think these are a p and rules based, for instance, on sustainable development. the respect of social rights, the respect of the environmental rights of climate change. if we do, under these conditions, i don't see why we should not cooperate. but he's very clear that these conditions have to be met to make sure that we can call great. and let me come back to the african question. i mean, europe and i repeat, europe is the largest owner, an investor in africa and around the world. so we're just trying to use and you to a new instrument to gather all the resources that are already being invested by europe, european companies, and european governments. and trying to bring in under one umbrella with

a common objective. and the subjective used to be when, when we don't want these to be only something that serves european industries, interests, or own european companies. we want also to cooperate with the local governments and local business of post 6. it was quite interesting when you sat there and said louise santos were aimed at bringing together an existing trade in existing projects. how much of this is going to be new money the, the headline figure of course, is $300000000000.00 euros of investments over the next 6 years or so. but how much of this is actually new? but we have new facilities now and most of what will be new will be money brought by actually the private sector and some of the financial institutions

that will be in that will be also associated to their to they should. and there is also an important component is the idea will be also to bring very a lot of national projects because we have also development banks that national level there are quite important in some countries. and the idea is also to bring these together. so this is going to be the new part on what we see in terms of resources . but i think that the final financial envelope will depend a lot on also the viability of the projects. and if the projects are viable and they make sense from a business point of view, of course, much more money will be gathered from the private sector as well as a not bisman. and we've heard that the ethos behind the awarding of

money for projects and someone will be very much based on europe's rules, under rules of transparency and, and so on and so forth. where's the incentive for countries to, to pump for the european funding model rather than say, the chinese model which may not have such stringent requirements. so, so this is, this is a very interesting point. and this is why i said, i think for a lot of african countries, policy makers and scholars alike they, i know we can see more right now because, i mean, my, my colleague this panel mentions that europe, europe is a largest donor, i forgot, which is actually true, i think the thing though is that, you know, this is why the, the issue of african brightest white important because for a long time, some african leaders and scholars have been saying that were african needs not just

donor funding is not just development assistance that is good, and that is needed, particularly in parts of the continent that i owe him serious, severe crisis. what african countries need is actually meaningful economic engagement. so it is a welcome initiative, the european gateway. and if we can try to make that development of systems that provides even better respond to these priorities around jobs creation around the provision of infrastructure. and then i think that is really, really going to work. and then the final thing i'll mention on this point is that you know, this, this issue of trying to crowd in private investments with a private sector. i think, i think a lot of work will have to go into that. because traditionally we find is that the private sector, particularly in europe, tends to be quite hesitant to engage or invest in africa because of this perception of risk. so whether this initiative, the suit,

your european global gateway initiative can help the risk african markets can help prepare a pipeline or the projects are for the private sector to invest in. i think that might be a key determinant. so i think a lot of us are kind of in a week and see how this is actually going to happen. i'm speaking of risk a victor in beijing over the last last 8 years or so. the belts and roads initiative has been underway. china has taken on a significance level of risk because it know with the investments it's maids. does china see that risk is paying off? because there are countries who have struggled to pay back the debts and the sums of money that they have, they've taken on in terms of chinese finance. so i just trying to view that.

thank you very much. i think you are reason a very important question from the chinese perspective. we have several conclusions . one is that cooperation with african countries should not be just based on donor assistance because that will not really help to build up national capacity in many african countries. secondly, if your purity, your commercial terms and commercial structure, then it will not work because many of the companies will find the investment toms too long to difficult profit. the ability to so for example, and they probably will not be committed to many of these projects, especially infrastructure projects. so you need to really innovate to come up with a model that will suit the set was this is indifferent to african countries, but also to make sure that you really contribute to connectivity and infrastructure . absolutely, i'm not sure of africa here. victor guy,

well also thinking of the railway projects and low the, the ports in sri lanka where china has had some of those significant that's paid off by 100 year long leases and the country is selling off the family jewels. in order to service those feds, the china, recognize that it's lensing practices, perhaps needs to change somewhat. well, 1st of all, loans are always a very important part of the financing package for most of the infrastructure and connectivity projects. so don't single out as long as if debt itself is evil. if the talk of our debt do know who borrows most of the money from china, it is not any country africa or even at the america or usa is the united states government? yes, my and i think as a salad or if it's cool in my notes to the chinese, the therapist that you need to come up with the vibe, all commercial structure to make sure that the infrastructure projects will be done

. well, let's take that risk and, and see how it applies a back to that, the global gateway initiative, luis desantos and the we've highlighted the fact that private companies certainly in europe are going to be a big part of this project id. think being under this umbrella is going to incentivize more countries to, to start reinvesting, if you like, in developing nations. i think his important part of me to get him risky is important, specially if you want to convince them more small and medium sized companies also to be part of these projects. and we know that in certain regions of what i'm including in europe, they f, a nice are an important partner and even important peeler from an economic point of view. so the projects of the global gateways foresees the export credit

system. so awfully that will be a mitigation of the race. and also the fact that we are, and that is one of the objectives that for business is very important that we really prioritize projects. and that we really look at projects for the have a strategic interests in terms of development and economic development. and this way we can kind of like the resources for the most viable and will strategic projects. i think this will be ways and schools to, to meet the gate to mitigate the risk and coming back again to, to, to the importance of having it can now make development. i think the you recognizes that development ad is not enough and it's not really leading to sustainable grow. so we need to change the priority. and i think this is one of the reasons why the

us come up now. we did the logo gateway structure. ok. zayna is that we're on the side of time, so i'll leave the last words to you. i understand it's very much a wait and see how this project is going to unfold. but do you think at this stage is likely to benefit most from the, this new global gateway? so i, i think nothing is cost and so a lot depends on what approach and how, how, how european countries actually make this make this work on the ground. in reality, i locked it ends on the extent to which others gateway initiative is actually informed by the needs of parties. all these developing countries around,

in the case of africa, created jobs for the $13.00 to $15000000.00 people joined the labor market every single year, around a plug in the infrastructure, financing gap around a $100000000.00 a year around. and there was a providing financing for adaptation to climate change to that, you know, around $50000000000.00. will this respond to these needs set and identify the paradise by african countries? i think that is very much something that will determine how this goes and the ability of african countries themselves to kind of put their own needs on the agenda. and i'm afraid we are out of time. but thank you to all our guests. they now bozeman luis desantos, and of course, joining us and paging victor go and thank you to for watching. remember, you can see the program again any time by visiting our web sites al jazeera dot com . and for further discussion just heads or facebook page at facebook dot com

forward slash ha inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter. handle is a j inside story. so for me and the whole team is fine tonight. ah and a mass pro democracy movement, violent crackdowns assassinations, and you imposed sanctions. old tactics in the struggle that ensued from the 2020

bella roost in presidential elections. that shook the country's self proclaimed dictators a seat of power. and now new tactics, migrants, people in power investigates, the humanitarian disaster under rivaling on europe's borders and asks what's next and the battle for bella. bruce on a jazz eda. as a cannon ball, i watched these scenes with horror as a kenyan some money. i feared the backlash, ethnic somalis had long been the target of intimidation and persecution. in kenya, almost every woman was of it. mohammed a doubt, travels through his homeland to reveal how his people and family had been subjected to years of brutal discrimination. just typical of the way they were to that in a country were colo al jazeera correspondence and less than a year. how high the middle east with well, in preparation, the country is staging. a major filament theme nations going head to head in thick

purpose built stadiums. for 2020 k will keep you across the action. as council prepares, the regions biggest ever sporting events that be for our cup on algebra. ah, hello, i'm has, i'm seeking in the how the top stories on jesse rising corona, virus infections and the arrival of a new variance pushing nations to look at strict measures to contain the spread in germany, unvaccinated people will be banned from much of public life. andrew simmons reports on the situation across europe. in less than a week, the only cron variant has swept the globe with more uncertainty about covert in many countries, especially in europe. new restrictions were being introduced anyway with the winter surgeon.