WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the world was “turning the tide” toward freedoms as he led a second democracy summit with an eye on China and Russia.

Biden, speaking at the White House to the mostly virtual gathering of 121 leaders, formally announced US$690 million in new funding to support democracy around the world.

“I believe this is the defining challenge of our age and, today, we can say with pride that the democracies of the world are getting stronger, not weaker. Autocracies of the world are getting weaker, not stronger,” Biden said.

“Thanks to the commitment of leaders... gathered today and the persistence of people in every region of the world demanding their rights be respected and their voices being heard, we’re seeing real indications that we’re turning the tide here,” Biden told the summit.

Biden, who invited eight more leaders than at his inaugural 2021 democracy summit, cited efforts by Angola to build an independent judiciary and anti-corruption plans by the Dominican Republic and Croatia, as well as US voters’ rejection in November elections of Donald Trump-backed deniers of the 2020 election.

Freedom House, the USbacked research group, in its latest annual report found that democracy deteriorated on a global level in 2022 but that there were a growing number of bright spots.

“We’re at an inflection point in history here when the decisions we make today are going to affect the course of our world for the next several decades,” Biden said.

“Our job is to keep building on our progress, so we don’t start heading in the wrong direction again – to keep the momentum going.”