SEC. 3. PRIORITIZATION OF EFFORTS AND ASSISTANCE 
FOR 
TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
INFRASTRUC-
TURE PROJECTS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN 
EUROPE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In pursuing the policy described 
in section 2, the Secretary of State, in consultation with 
the Secretary of Commerce, the Chief Executive Officer 
of the United States International Development Finance 
Corporation, the Director of the Trade and Development 
Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, and 
heads of other relevant United States agencies, shall, as 
appropriate, prioritize and expedite the efforts of the De-
partment of State and those agencies in supporting the 
efforts of the European Commission and the governments 
of Central and Eastern European countries to improve the 
security of their telecommunications networks, including 
through providing diplomatic and political support to the 
European Commission and Central and Eastern Europe 
countries, as necessary— 
(1) to support enhancement of European tele-
communications markets, including through early- 
stage project support and late-stage project support 
for the construction or improvement of telecommuni-
cations and related infrastructure; 
(2) to remove covered telecommunications 
equipment or services and replace such equipment or 
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services with secure telecommunications equipment 
or services; 
(3) to support the development of telecommuni-
cations networks that are inclusive, transparent, eco-
nomically viable, financially, environmentally, and 
socially sustainable, compliant with international 
standards, laws, and regulations, and supplied by 
providers of secure telecommunications equipment or 
services; and 
(4) to facilitate international coordination on 
cross-border telecommunications infrastructure con-
struction and security standards to ensure cross-bor-
der telecommunications are secure. 
(b) PROJECT SELECTION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, the 
Chief Executive Officer of the United States Inter-
national Development Finance Corporation, and the 
Director of the Trade and Development Agency shall 
identify telecommunications infrastructure projects 
that would advance United States national security 
and be appropriate for United States assistance 
under this section. 
(2) PROJECT ELIGIBILITY.—A project is eligible 
for United States assistance under this section if— 
(A) the project— 
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(i) improves telecommunications net-
works through either hard infrastructure 
such as telecommunications lines or equip-
ment or soft infrastructure such as innova-
tive software development or cloud serv-
ices; 
(ii) is inclusive, transparent, economi-
cally viable, financially, environmentally, 
and socially sustainable, compliant with 
international standards, laws, and regula-
tions, and supplied with secure telecommu-
nications equipment or services solely by 
providers of secure telecommunications 
equipment or services; 
(iii) does not use covered telecommu-
nications equipment or services or removes 
covered telecommunications equipment or 
services and replaces such equipment or 
services with secure telecommunications 
equipment or services; and 
(iv) 
enhances 
telecommunications 
market integration across the Central or 
Eastern European region that is secure 
from exploitation by malign actors; and 
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(B) the project is located in a Central or 
Eastern European country. 
(3) PREFERENCE.—In selecting among projects 
that are eligible under paragraph (2), the agencies 
described in subsection (a) shall give preference to 
projects that— 
(A) can attract funding from the private 
sector, an international financial institution, the 
government of the country in which the project 
will be carried out, or the European Commis-
sion; 
(B) have been designated as available for 
funding through the Three Seas Initiative In-
vestment Fund; 
(C) are to be carried out in the Three Seas 
Initiative member nations; 
(D) are to be carried out in NATO mem-
ber nations that meet or are making progress 
toward meeting their commitments to upholding 
the rule of law and preserving democratic insti-
tutions in accordance with the preamble and 
Article 2 of the NATO Treaty; 
(E) are to be carried out in NATO mem-
ber nations that meet or are making demon-
strable progress toward meeting their defense 
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spending commitments in accordance with the 
2014 NATO Wales Summit Declaration; or 
(F) have the potential to advance United 
States economic interests. 
(c) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.— 
(1) DIPLOMATIC
AND
POLITICAL
SUPPORT.— 
The Secretary of State shall provide diplomatic and 
political support to the European Commission and 
Central and Eastern European countries, as nec-
essary, including by using the diplomatic and polit-
ical influence and expertise of the Department of 
State to build the capacity of Central and Eastern 
European countries to resolve any impediments to 
the development of projects selected under sub-
section (b). 
(2) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 
SUPPORT.—The Secretary of State shall seek to en-
courage international financial institutions, including 
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Develop-
ment, the European Investment Bank, and the 
International Monetary Fund, the Foreign, Com-
monwealth, and Development Office of the Govern-
ment of the United Kingdom, the Agency for Inter-
national Cooperation of the Government of Ger-
many, and the Development Agency of the Govern-
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ment of France to invest in telecommunications in-
frastructure resilience in Central and Eastern Eu-
rope. 
(3) EARLY-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The Di-
rector of the Trade and Development Agency shall 
provide early-stage project support with respect to 
projects selected under subsection (b), as necessary, 
including project support in middle- and upper-in-
come countries. 
(4) LATE-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—Agencies 
described in subsection (a) that provide late-stage 
project support shall do so with respect to projects 
selected under subsection (b), as necessary. 
(5) UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOP-
MENT
FINANCE
CORPORATION
SUPPORT.—The 
United States International Development Finance 
Corporation is authorized to provide support for 
projects under this section in Central and Eastern 
European countries that are countries with upper- 
middle-income economies or high-income economies 
(as those terms are defined by the International 
Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the 
International Development Association (collectively 
referred to as the ‘‘World Bank’’)) notwithstanding 
the restriction under section 1412(c)(2) of the Bet-
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ter Utilization of Investments Leading to Develop-
ment Act of 2018 (22 U.S.C. 9612(c)(2)). 
SEC. 4. PROGRESS REPORTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 
the President shall submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a report on the progress made in pro-
viding assistance for projects under section 3 that in-
cludes— 
(1) a description of the telecommunications in-
frastructure projects the United States has identi-
fied for such assistance; and 
(2) for each such project— 
(A) a description of the role of the United 
States in the project, including in early-stage 
project support and late-stage project support; 
(B) the amount and form of debt financ-
ing, equity financing, and insurance provided by 
the United States Government, the Three Seas 
Initiative Investment Fund, international finan-
cial institutions, including the European Bank 
for Reconstruction and Development, the Euro-
pean Investment Bank, and the International 
Monetary Fund, the Foreign, Commonwealth, 
and Development Office of the Government of 
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the United Kingdom, the Agency for Inter-
national Cooperation of the Government of Ger-
many, and the Development Agency of the Gov-
ernment of France for the project; 
(C) the contractual terms of the project 
that preclude the use of covered telecommuni-
cations equipment or services and steps taken 
to ensure providers of telecommunications 
equipment or services meet such contractual 
terms; and 
(D) an update on the progress made on 
the project as of the date of the report. 
(b) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMITTEES 
DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con-
gressional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) CENTRAL OR EASTERN EUROPEAN COUN-
TRY.—The term ‘‘Central or Eastern European 
country’’ includes— 
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(A) Albania; 
(B) Austria 
(C) Bosnia and Herzegovina; 
(D) Bulgaria; 
(E) Croatia; 
(F) Cyprus; 
(G) the Czech Republic; 
(H) Estonia; 
(I) Greece; 
(J) Hungary; 
(K) Kosovo; 
(L) Latvia; 
(M) Lithuania; 
(N) Moldova; 
(O) Montenegro; 
(P) North Macedonia; 
(Q) Poland; 
(R) Romania; 
(S) Serbia; 
(T) Slovakia; 
(U) Slovenia; and 
(V) Ukraine. 
(2) COVERED FOREIGN COUNTRY.—The term 
‘‘covered foreign country’’ means the People’s Re-
public of China. 
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(3) COVERED
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
EQUIP-
MENT OR SERVICES.—The term ‘‘covered telecom-
munications equipment or services’’ means any of 
the following: 
(A) Telecommunications equipment or 
services produced or provided by Huawei Tech-
nologies Company or ZTE Corporation (or any 
subsidiary or affiliate of such entities). 
(B) Telecommunications equipment or 
services produced or provided by an entity that 
the Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
Director of National Intelligence, reasonably be-
lieves to be an entity owned or controlled by, or 
otherwise connected to, the government of a 
covered foreign country. 
(4) EARLY-STAGE
PROJECT
SUPPORT.—The 
term ‘‘early-stage project support’’ includes— 
(A) feasibility studies; 
(B) resource evaluations; 
(C) project appraisal and costing; 
(D) pilot projects; 
(E) commercial support, such as trade 
missions, reverse trade missions, technical 
workshops, international buyer programs, and 
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international partner searchers to link suppliers 
to projects; 
(F) technical assistance and other guid-
ance to improve the local regulatory environ-
ment and market frameworks to encourage 
transparent competition and enhance tele-
communications security; and 
(G) long-term telecommunications sector 
planning. 
(5) LATE-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The term 
‘‘late-stage project support’’ includes debt financing, 
equity financing, insurance, and transaction advisory 
services. 
(6) SECURE
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
EQUIP-
MENT
OR
SERVICES.—The term ‘‘secure tele-
communications equipment or services’’ means tele-
communications equipment or services that are not, 
and do not contain, covered telecommunications 
equipment or services. 
Æ 
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