Canada is holding off on naming the founding members of its proposed global defence bank until more countries agree to come on board, the country’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
Foreign minister Anita Anand spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara, Turkey, where she said negotiations are continuing with multiple nations over the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, known as the DSRB.
The initiative, backed by Mark Carney’s government, had originally been targeting roughly 10 founding national supporters to be revealed at the NATO gathering. However, Anand signaled that Canada wants a broader coalition before making any official announcement.
“We want more and more countries to come on board before we put something out,” Anand said, adding that the project still enjoys a “critical mass” of support — a phrase that echoes earlier statements made by Carney himself.
The DSRB is designed to raise as much as £100 billion — approximately $134 billion U.S. — in affordable financing to strengthen the defence capabilities of allied nations. The bank is pursuing a triple-A credit rating, which would allow it to offer low-interest loans for defence projects, especially for countries and companies that currently have difficulty accessing cheaper funding.
The bank also intends to provide loan guarantees to private financial institutions to help scale up the defence industry.
The future of the project remains uncertain without wider national participation, as countries are being asked to contribute startup capital. Anand declined to identify which nations are currently in talks, but she did highlight Luxembourg as having made considerable effort — noting it is currently the only other publicly confirmed supporter of the initiative.
“We’re still in discussions with many of these countries. Of course, we have a critical mass of countries now, but the more the merrier as it is in terms of ensuring that SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) have the capabilities to ramp up,” Anand said.
The NATO summit, which Carney is attending, runs through Wednesday.
