The United States has proposed investing $5 bln in a new fund that would help Middle East countries rebuild energy infrastructure, The Wall Street Journal reported.
It is also planned to use the new fund’s resources to create infrastructure that will help reducing dependence of supplies of oil and gas on the Strait of Hormuz, according to the report.
Under U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan, eight of Washington’s regional partners, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Jordan, must contribute an amount matching the U.S. investment to the fund, bringing its total size to $10 bln.
The parties are still discussing the details of the new fund, the newspaper said, adding that whether other countries will join it remains unclear.
"The move is a tacit acknowledgment that the seven-month conflict has roiled the global energy market and destroyed regional pipelines and refineries that will be costly to rebuild," the publication reads.
