3.1.3. Blue Dot Network

In November 2019, the US, Australia, and Japan came together to establish what is now known as a trilateral BDN to help develop and promote quality infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world. Focusing on transparency and sustainability, the BDN aims to set a standard of excellence in infrastructure development. Hansbrough [19] argued that the BDN is primarily a vision of what global infrastructure should look like. In the eyes of many observers, the BDN is also seen as an alternative to China's BRI, or a counter to the rising debt traps and low-quality infrastructure that boost quantitative and nontransparent aspects of the projects see, for example, [12,20–23].

According to the US Department of State [24], the BDN is a multistakeholder initiative seeking to bring together governments, the private sector, and civil society to encourage the adoption of trusted standards for quality global infrastructure development in an open and inclusive framework. It also encourages responsible construction and lending practices through international norms. Infrastructure projects have to follow the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment, aimed at sustainable lending and borrowing; the G7 Charlevoix Commitment on Innovative Financing for Development; and the Equator Principles, which mandate financial institutions to assess and manage environmental and social risks in a given project. Projects that aim for certification under the BDN will have to give an undertaking that they adhere to these principles. The undertaking will then be scrutinized. Certification by the BDN means that a project is high-quality and has transparent origins, much like an 'organic' label for produce. Likewise, a country that agrees to follow BDN standards signifies that its government values high-quality infrastructure that benefits local communities.

The BDN plans to certify projects around the world (whose investment totals an estimated USD 94 trillion) that meet high-quality infrastructure standard over the next two decades [25]. This will meet the projected infrastructure investment need identified by ADB (2017) up to 2040 [4]. In Asia alone, the investment will require approximately USD 26 trillion from 2016 to 2030, or USD 1.7 trillion per year, if the region is to maintain its growth momentum, eradicate poverty, and respond to climate change [26].

The BDN looks promising for the Mekong Subregion and for the world, as it seeks to build the robust, resilient infrastructure essential to a country's growth and its people's wellbeing [27]. But this remains to be seen. The initiative has not been fully defined and project financing facilities are amongst the many details that have to be clarified [22,25].
