Why in news?

• The proposed Blue Dot network is expected to discussed between visiting US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

About:

• The Blue Dot network is “a multi-stakeholder initiative to bring together governments, the private sector and civil society to promote high-quality, trusted standards for global infrastructure development.”
• The proposal, which is part of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy, will evaluate projects on various parameters, including level of public consultation, transparency in funding, debt traps and basic environment norms.
• Projects that meet the norms will get a “blue dot”, which will enable them to attract private funding and not have to depend on state-funding alone.
• The US, which is leading the proposal, has already got Japan and Australia as partners in this idea.