Secretary Blinken delivers remarks at the DFC 5th Anniversary Conference

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Good afternoon. It is a great honor and a pleasure to join you to celebrate the DFC’s fifth anniversary. Now, I’m the parent of a five-year-old myself so I know they can be a little bit unruly. (Laughter.) Scott, you’ve got your hands full. But to you, to the entire DFC team, thank you for the remarkable things you’ve accomplished in such a short period of time. Your leadership has taken the DFC from the new kid on the block to a powerful tool for implementing our foreign policy, for advancing America’s interests, and doing it with increasingly powerful effect. I know we have some friends from Congress here, where the DFC has enjoyed very strong bipartisan support. And that’s been true from the beginning, and I hope that it endures. I know you’ve had a chance to hear today from some of my good friends and colleagues – from the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, from the USAID Administrator Sam Power – underscoring just how much this administration values this agency and just how much it brings to our development and diplomacy works. In a more competitive world, we have a strategic imperative to demonstrate that other countries can look to the United States as a reliable, responsive partner in tackling some of our biggest challenges, to demonstrate that we have the better offer to deliver on their own national aspirations. And as I have traveled the world, I’ve seen the fundamental importance of that value proposition, the value proposition that the DFC offers us. From enhancing food security to addressing the climate crisis to promoting inclusive opportunity, DFC has been the tip of the spear in all of our efforts – committing now a record $12 billion across 44 countries just in this year alone. And I think, Scott, as I’ve looked at what you’ve done, you’ve succeeded in part by reimagining how the United States does development. Not only does leveraging private capital allow us to invest significantly more than our traditional foreign assistance would allow; it also yields returns that can be re-invested in other initiatives. When you commit those resources, you’ve shown countries that they don’t have to resort to projects that are poorly built, environmentally destructive, that import or abuse workers, that foster corruption or burden countries with unsustainable debt. Instead, they can achieve growth, they can achieve progress, while adhering to the strongest, the highest environmental, social, and labor standards. When other governments see that our government, our companies, our investments make a concrete difference in their lives, in their livelihoods, that simply makes them want to deepen the partnership with the United States and further advances our shared interests. And when people around the world have greater access to markets, to health care, to renewable energy, that’s good for America’s businesses, for Americans’ health, and for the planet that we all share. Now, I’ve seen the DFC’s strategic impact in Europe, where DFC financing has helped our partners diversify away from Russian energy, whether that’s modernizing a shipyard outside Athens to make Greece an energy hub or rehabilitating hydroelectric plants and electric grids in Bulgaria and Greece[1]. Last month, DFC and the Ukrainian insurance company ARX came together to unlock more than $200 million in war risk insurance. This was a critical initiative because it’s enabling businesses in Ukraine – agricultural processors, pharmaceutical companies, retailers – to operate knowing that they’ll be made whole if their assets are damaged or destroyed by the war; and that, in turn, allows Ukraine to attract more and more capital, private-sector investment, supporting its economic recovery, allowing it to remain resilient faced with the ongoing Russian aggression. We’ve strengthened the supply chains that we rely on for semiconductors, for critical minerals, and other elements and items essential to modern life. Earlier this year – Scott and I were just talking about this – I had the opportunity to be in Angola, where I saw some of the investments that we’ve been making in the Lobito Corridor. Through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment – including DFC financing for railways, ports, and mines – we will provide electricity for more than 2 million people, we’ll cut around 900,000 tons of carbon emissions every single year, we’ll create thousands of jobs for Americans and Africans alike, we will bring critical minerals like copper and cobalt to global markets in a sustainable, non-exploitive way. As President Biden said when he was in Angola just a week or so ago, Lobito is “a game changer.” We’ve also bolstered global health systems against future pandemics, with DFC committing millions to increase vaccine production from India to South Africa. So when the next global health crisis hits, our friends will be less dependent on our competitors for lifesaving vaccines, for therapeutics, better prepared to contribute more to the global response and to the needs of their own people. DFC has accomplished all of this by becoming more effective, more forward-leaning as an agency – doubling the workforce, expanding the overseas presence, deepening collaborations with peer institutions. So, as I am looking out at the challenges that we’ll have to face in the years ahead, it is clear to me that we need the DFC, and we need the DFC to do even more, in more places, than ever before. We’re working closely with Congress in our final weeks to reauthorize the DFC in a bipartisan way, to strengthen its toolkit for the future. What does that mean? A few things that I think are worthy of emphasis. I think it means expanding the number of countries where the DFC is actually eligible to operate. This would bring DFC in line with our other development finance institutions and enable the DFC to work, within limits, in strategic sectors – critical minerals, energy, transportation, communications – not only in low- and middle-income nations, but also in high-income nations when it displaces our competitors. It means increasing the DFC’s financial firepower by doubling the total amount it’s able to have invested at any given time – from $60 billion to $120 billion. It also means shifting the way the DFC is required to treat so-called “equity investments.” When the DFC buys equity in a company, it owns part of the company outright, giving it a full seat at the table when it comes time to decision-making – which partners to work with, which standards to meet, which projects to take on. That helps companies – and investors, including the DFC – succeed and succeed financially. But today, DFC has to treat its equity investments like a grant that will never show a return on the money, instead of the lucrative and strategic investments that they so often are. Taking into account these expected profits would enable DFC to substantially increase its equity investments and take more risks in strategic sectors. Now, these are actually relatively modest changes, but I am convinced that they would make the institution even more effective and, as a result, even better able to deliver for the American people and for people around the world. This is a great story to tell, and it’s a story that we need to tell more places, in more ways, and even more effectively. Because I think as we tell the story, we’ll get more and more sustained support for the work of the DFC. What the DFC is doing is really one of the best examples of how – when our country gets in the game, when we have something tangible to offer other countries around the world – we really are the partner of choice. And if that’s the reputation that with Scott’s leadership you’ve been able to establish just in five short years, I can only imagine what DFC will be able to achieve over the next five, or over the next 50. So to each and every one of you who’s been involved in this enterprise, to those of you whose support is so essential, please keep at it. I know, I can tell you firsthand it’s making a powerful difference. You are making a powerful difference. This institution is making a powerful difference. Thank you so much. And really, Scott, to you, thank you for your exceptional leadership. Thanks, everyone. (Applause.)