G7 summit begins today with COVID-19 and climate change vaccines as central themes

From climate to pandemic, G7 leaders will seek common responses to global crises at their first summit in nearly two years this Friday., starting with the distribution of one billion doses of vaccine against covid-19.

After months of videoconferencing, face to face meetings are coming back and until Sunday there will also be bilateral meetings, a reception with Queen Elizabeth II and a barbecue on the beach where roasted marshmallows will not be lacking.

The event brings together heads of state and government from Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom in the coastal town of Carbis Bay, in the southwest of England.

This is the first summit as president of American Joe Biden, firmly committed to multilateralism after the isolationist years of Donald Trump. Also for the Italian Mario Draghi and the Japanese Yoshihide Suga.

But the last for Angela Merkel, who will leave this year the head of the German government which she occupied for 16 years.

However, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the G7, won’t shake hands with any of them: to avoid contagion, the event is subject to restrictions that include daily testing for covid-19.

Much-needed action as the UK, with nearly 128,000 coronavirus deaths, faces an increase in the Delta variant that threatens to delay the final phase of its disagreement.

– One billion vaccines –

At the center of the talks will be the recovery of a global economy crippled by the pandemic and a more equitable distribution of covid-19 vaccines by rich countries.

In the face of growing calls for solidarity, Johnson has urged his counterparts to pledge to “vaccinate the world” by the end of next year, “because no one can be well protected until everyone is.”

Segun Downing Street, Leaders will agree to provide “at least 1 billion doses” by sharing or financing them and by increasing production capacities, with the aim of “ending the pandemic in 2022”.

The United States has already pledged to donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to 92 underprivileged countries. The UK will distribute 100 million excess doses, mainly through the Covax program.

But for NGOs this is insufficient and the G7 should approve the suspension of patents to allow mass production. Something accepted by France but which Germany firmly opposes.

“With the current immunization rate, it would take 57 years for low-income countries to achieve the same level of protection as the G7 countries. It is morally unacceptable, but also counterproductive “Oxfam pointed out.

For his part, Macron called on pharmaceutical companies to donate 10% of the doses sold and said the summit will support the goal of 60% of Africans being vaccinated by the end of March 2022.

According to the agency Bloomberg, the G7 will also call for a new investigation by the World Health Organization (WHO) into the origin of the coronavirus.

– Climate “Marshall Plan” –

The fight against the climate crisis will be the other priority of the summit, which promises to be carbon neutral, ahead of the major UN climate conference, COP26, scheduled for November in Scotland.

Johnson longs for a “Marshall Plan” to help developing countries decarbonize their economies, according to Time, similar to massive US funding spent on rebuilding Europe after WWII.

In May, G7 environment ministers pledged to end state aid to coal-fired power plants this year, promising “ambitious and accelerated efforts” to reduce their CO2 emissions.

But environmentalists, who plan to demonstrate around the summit, regret the vague promises.

The day before the meeting, Johnson and Biden have shown a united front on the climate emergency, adopting a new “Atlantic Charter” that also emphasizes the need to deal with cyber attacks.

But if the two great allies are in tune on major international issues such as the challenges posed by China or Russia, tensions persist over Northern Ireland, at the center of a post-Brexit dispute between London and the Union. European.

Biden, of Irish descent, reiterated his support for the trade commitments made between the two parties, which he sees as a guarantee of peace in the British province.

(With information from AFP)

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