Canada wants more backers for global defence bank, Anand says

Canada wants more countries to back its global defence bank initiative before it announces a roster of founding nations, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in an interview on the sidelines of the NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has been promoting the multilateral Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) and had been aiming around 10 national backers at the NATO summit, the country’s lead negotiator told Reuters last week.

The bank’s purpose is to bolster the defense of allied nations by raising up to US$134 billion in cheap finance.

“We want more and more countries to come on board before we put something out,” Anand said. Discussions were ongoing and the project still had a “critical mass” of support, she added, echoing prior comments by Carney.

The summit, attended by Carney, runs Tuesday and Wednesday.

The project’s fate remains in the balance without broader support from other nations, who are being asked to provide startup capital.

Anand did not name those in talks but said Luxembourg — the project’s only other public backer — had put in significant effort.

“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,” she said.

The DSRB is aiming to secure a triple-A credit rating, allowing it to provide low-interest loans to fund defense projects, particularly for nations and companies that currently struggle to access cheaper finance.

It also plans to provide loan guarantees to private banks to support defense industry scaling.