Biden is first at G7 meeting | New…

The Group of Seven first met Biden as President of the United States. The leaders of the economic powers of Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States accepted efforts to vaccinate the poorest population against the coronavirus. Without voucher we did not know how they were going to carry out this will, Joe Biden insisted on the return to multilateralism of the North American country.

It was the first meeting of the Group of Seven since April last year, when former US President Donald Trump was in charge of the summit which had to be suspended due to the pandemic. “We will try to make 2021 a pivotal year for multilateralism and achieve a recovery that ensures the health and prosperity of our people and the planet., says the final declaration of the G7 meeting. The virtual meeting between leaders also had the participation of representatives of the European Union (EU).

The preparatory meeting of the G7 was organized by Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister currently in charge of the group’s temporary leadership. The United Kingdom is in charge of the G7 summit in Cornwall (south of the island) next June. The meeting was also an opportunity to welcome the new North American president, Democrat Joe Biden, who spent a day marked by several stages in the return of his country to multilateralism.

In the group of seven conversation, the leaders for their part recognized the new context and They called for making 2021 “a turning point for multilateralism” in reference to the covid-19 pandemic. “Once again, multilateralism will have more options within the G7,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in the last year of her mandate as head of the European country.

G7 final statement indicates collective support for the Covid-19 vaccine with aid of up to $ 7.5 million to be channeled through the United Nations Covax program and led by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is counting on the reincorporation of the United States after Trump left last year.

After making commitments regarding the fight against the coronavirus, Biden attended the Munich security conference, the first time a U.S. president has joined the annual meeting of heads of state, security experts and government officials. diplomats. Previously, the American president had already formalized the return of the United States to the Paris Agreement, the only global instrument to deal with climate change. Donald Trump’s administration abandoned the Accord in November of last year, and for 107 days the North American country made no federal effort on the matter.

Returning to the remote G7 leaders’ meeting, the group’s final communiqué also expressed determination to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) to accelerate vaccine manufacture and distribution, as well as to increase the number of manufacturing capacities. and promote transparent and accountable practices.

Although in practice the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has remained firm in his decision to donate surplus vaccines to developing countries, but only once after having immunized the entire British population. For his part, the French president, Emmanuel Macron is inclined to allocate 5% of European and American reserves to countries on the African continent and at least immunize health workers. The European Union as well as the United States doubled the contribution by $ 1,210 million and Germany indicated that its contribution would be $ 1,800 million.

G7 countries have allocated around $ 6 trillion to keep their economies afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic. The group said they would continue to support their economies with the intention of “protecting jobs and promoting a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive recovery”. They also reiterated their support to the most vulnerable countries through international financial institutions “exploring all available tools”, including the debt suspension initiative.

On the other hand, Boris Johnson, who will also be in charge of the United Nations Climate Change Summit, COP 26 in Glasgow, celebrated the return of the United States to the Paris Agreement (the same one that stems from the negotiations of COP 21. In line) with Johnson’s climate commitments, the G7 press release says climate change is “at the center of its plans”.

Although the main issues revolve around the covid-19 pandemic and climate change, the G7 also condemned the military coup that took place earlier this month in Myanmar, as well as the arrest of Russian opponent Alexéi Navalni. . According to his spokesperson, Johnson stressed “the responsibility of the G7 to demonstrate to the world the benefits of our shared democratic values ​​by creating open and prosperous societies”.