Canada is aiming to announce around 10 founding nations for a global defense bank at next week’s NATO summit in Turkiye, the lead Canadian negotiator told Reuters on July 2. Reuters notes that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is promoting the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) as part of his call this year for an alliance of “middle powers” to combat what he sees as the fracturing of the traditional U.S.-led world order.
“We gave ourselves the NATO Summit as a deadline ... What we are aiming to announce is the list of founding members,” Isabelle Hudon, Canada’s top negotiator in the launch of the multilateral initiative and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada, said in an interview. The bank’s purpose, Reuters says, is to bolster the defense of allied nations by raising up to £100 billion ($133 billion) in cheap finance.
But, according to Reuters, the project’s fate remains uncertain without the backing of nations crucial to it securing a triple-A credit rating. The DSRB has had productive talks with South Korea and there was a 50-50 chance of it joining, potentially later, Hudon said, adding that no other G7 nations were close to signing up for now. South Korea’s Finance Ministry has previously told Reuters it was reviewing the proposal.
