Biden Announces Presidential Initiative For Democratic Renewal At Democracy Summit

US President Joe Biden announced a Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, worth nearly half a billion dollars, as he opened the first virtual Summit for Democracy in Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2021) US President Joe Biden announced a Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, worth nearly half a billion Dollars, as he opened the first virtual Summit for Democracy in Thursday.

"Today, I am proud to launch the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, which will focus efforts across our diplomacy and foreign assistance programs to bolster democratic resilience and human rights globally," Biden said.

Washington is planning to commit as much as $424.4 million next year toward the initiative, according to the Fact Sheet sent by the White House.

Biden stated that the initiative's efforts will focus on five areas vital to transparent and accountable governance, "including supporting media freedom, fighting international corruption, standing with democratic reformers, promoting technology that advances democracy, and defining and defending what a fair election is.

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The two-day summit brings together government officials, civil society and private sector representatives from more than 110 countries. The list of guests does not include China, Hungary, Russia, Saudi Arabia or Turkey, among a dozen other nations.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has criticized the US-led summit for trying to designate on their criteria which country is democratic and which not, especially in light of a decay of democracy in the West.

Beijing has said that the summit provokes a split and confrontation in the world, while Budapest stated that it does not need a "judge" that would assess the state of their democracy.