G7 meeting | Business Upturn

EU to discuss 11th package of sanctions against Russia at G7 summit

United News of India (UNI) — Mon, 15 May 2023 10:45:14 +0000

Brussels, May 15: The European Union will discuss the existing and future sanctions against Russia at the G7 summit scheduled to take place in Japan from May 19-21, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.

“Then, in the G7, we will also discuss sanctions and we will, of course, take stock of the existing sanctions and the future measures. The [EU] commission has proposed the 11th package of sanctions, it is focused mainly on enforcement and anti-circumvention and this, of course, is as always very closely coordinated with other G7 [members] that are building also similar packages,” von der Leyen said at a press conference ahead of the summit.

On May 8, the European Commission confirmed that the proposal on the 11th package of Russia sanctions had been sent out to EU member states. According to the commission head, it will enable EU member states to prohibit the export of a number of goods to third countries in case of suspicion of their participation in circumventing sanctions against Moscow.

Taliban asks all ‘western forces’ to leave Afghanistan by August 31

Vandana Nampoothiri — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 06:27:57 +0000

In a Sky News interview on Tuesday, Taliban spokesman and negotiator Suhail Shaheen said that there will be consequences if the US delays withdrawing the troops from Afghanistan by August 31.

He said that “there would be consequences” if the US or UK asks for more time for the evacuation process.

Meanwhile, UK prime minister Boris Johnson on Sunday said that he will convene G7 leaders on Tuesday for urgent talks on the situation in Afghanistan. “It is vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis, and support the Afghan people to secure the gains of the last 20 years.” He said in a tweet.

I will convene G7 leaders on Tuesday for urgent talks on the situation in Afghanistan. It is vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people to secure the gains of the last 20 years.

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 22, 2021

Speaking about the G7 meeting, US President Joe Biden said in a press statement on Monday, “”Our first priority is to complete the evacuation of our citizens and those Afghans who have assisted our efforts over the last 20 years – but as we look ahead to the next phase, it’s vital we come together as an international community and agree on a joint approach for the longer term.”

He also said that he called a meeting to coordinate the response to the “immediate crisis” and “to reaffirm our commitment to the Afghan people, and to ask our international partners to match the UK’s commitments to support those in need.”

The G7 meeting will be built on Biden’s call with leaders like Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

China accuses G7 of ‘manipulation’ after criticism over Xinjiang and Hong Kong

Aryan Jakhar — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 06:59:39 +0000

The Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom has responded angrily to the communique and accused the G7 of ‘interfering’. China has accused the G7 of “political manipulation” after it criticized Beijing over its human rights record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

In a communique after a three-day summit in England, G7 leaders criticised China over abuses against minorities in the Xinjiang region and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, while US President Joe Biden called for Beijing to “start acting more responsibly in terms of international norms on human rights”.

The Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom responded angrily on Monday, and accused the G7 of “interfering”.

“The Group of Seven (G-7) takes advantage of Xinjiang-related issues to engage in political manipulation and interfere in China’s internal affairs, which we firmly oppose,” an embassy spokesman said in a statement. The statement accused the G7 of “lies, rumours and baseless accusations”

Human rights groups say China has rounded up an estimated one million Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang into internment camps, which Beijing says is to eradicate Islamic extremism.

“We will promote our values, including by calling on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms” the G7 communique read.

At their first physical summit in nearly two years, leaders of the seven nations announced a number of pledges on Covid-19 vaccinations, climate change, rights and trade.

They also called for a new investigation in China into the origins of COVID-19 – prompting a response from the Chinese embassy that the work needs to be done in a “scientific, objective and fair manner”, without agreeing to a new probe.

“The current epidemic is still raging around the world, and the traceability work should be carried out by global scientists and should not be politicized,” the embassy said.

The coronavirus first emerged in central China in late 2019, and the World Health Organization sent a team of international experts in January to probe its origins.

But their long-delayed report published in March drew no firm conclusions, and the investigation has since faced criticism for lacking transparency and access.

The G7 also announced a new infrastructure fund which President Biden said would be “much more equitable” than China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative.

The Chinese embassy statement complained in response that the “accusations against China on economic and trade issues in the communique are inconsistent with the facts and are unreasonable.”

G7 nations to give over 1 billion COVID vaccine doses to poor nations: UK PM Boris Johnson

Aryan Jakhar — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 06:50:58 +0000

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the Group of Seven wealthy nations have pledged over 1 billion coronavirus vaccine doses for poorer nations. Speaking at the end of a G-7 leaders’ summit in southwest England on Sunday, Johnson said the doses would come both directly and through the international COVAX program.

The commitment falls far short of the 11 billion doses the head of the World Health Organization said is needed to vaccinate at least 70% of the world’s population by mid-2022 and truly end the pandemic

The Group of Seven leaders are expected to make other commitments after their three-day summit, which Johnson hosted. The G-7 nations are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Group of Seven leaders aim to end their first summit in two years with a punchy set of promises Sunday, including vaccinating the world against coronavirus, making huge corporations pay their fair share of taxes and tackling climate change with a blend of technology and money.

Earlier, Johnson, the summit’s host, wanted the three-day meeting to fly the flag for a “Global Britain,” his government’s push to give the midsized country outsized global influence. Yet Brexit cast a shadow over that goal during the summit on the coast of southwest England. European Union leaders and U.S. President Joe Biden voiced concerns about problems with new U.K.-EU trade rules that have heightened tensions in Northern Ireland.

But overall, the mood has been positive: The leaders smiled for the cameras on the beach at cliff-fringed Carbis Bay, a village and resort that became a traffic-clogged fortress for the meeting. The last G-7 summit was in France in 2019, with last year’s event in the United States scuttled by the pandemic.

The leaders mingled with Queen Elizabeth II at a royal reception on their first evening and were served steak and lobster at a beach barbecue after watching an aeronautic display by the Royal Air Force Red Arrows on their second. America’s allies were visibly relieved to have the U.S. back as an engaged international player after the “America First” policy of the Trump administration.

“The United States is back, and democracies of the world are standing together,” Biden said as he arrived in the U.K. on the first foreign trip of his 5-month-old presidency. After the G-7 summit, the president will have tea with the queen on Sunday, attend a NATO summit in Brussels on Monday and hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday.

At the G-7, Johnson described Biden as a “breath of fresh air.” French President Emmanuel Macron, after speaking one-to-one with Biden, said, “It’s great to have a U.S. president part of the club and very willing to cooperate.”

The re-energized G-7 made ambitious declarations during their meetings about girls’ education, preventing future pandemics and financing greener infrastructure globally. Above all, they vowed to share vaccine doses with less well-off nations that urgently need them. Johnson said the group would pledge at least 1 billion doses, with half of that coming from the United States and 100 million from Britain.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other public health officials commended the vaccine pledge but said it’s not enough. To truly end the pandemic, he said, 11 billion doses are needed to vaccinate at least 70% of the world’s population by mid-2022.

“We need more and we need them faster,” Tedros said.

Climate change is a key focus of the leaders’ final day of talks on Sunday, and the group is expected to announce new financing measures to help poorer countries reduce carbon emissions.

The “Build Back Better for the World” plan will promise to offer financing for infrastructure — “from railways in Africa to wind farms in Asia” — to help speed up the global shift to renewable energy. The plan is a response to China’s “belt and road” initiative, which has increased Beijing’s worldwide influence.

Climate activists and analysts say filling a $100 billion annual fund to help poor countries tackle the effects of global warming should be at the top of the G-7′s list. All G-7 countries have pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but many environmentalists say that will be too little, too late. Naturalist David Attenborough addressed the leaders by video Sunday, warning that humanity is “on the verge of destabilizing the entire planet.”

“If that is so, then the decisions we make this decade — in particular the decisions made by the most economically advanced nations — are the most important in human history,” the veteran documentary filmmaker said.

Max Lawson, head of inequality policy for Oxfam International, welcomed plans to boost investment to help poor countries reduce their carbon footprints but said “it doesn’t help the poor people that are being hit by climate change right now.”

“So, yes, it’s probably a good thing but is it enough? Absolutely not,” he said.

Large crowds of surfers and kayakers took to the sea in a mass protest Saturday to urge better protection for the world’s oceans, while thousands beat drums as they marched outside the summit’s media centre in Falmouth.

“G-7 is all greenwashing,” the protesters sang. “We’re drowning in promises, now’s the time to act.”

White House officials also said Biden wants the G-7 leaders to speak in a single voice against the forced labour practices targeting China’s Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities. Biden hopes the denunciation will be part of a joint statement Sunday, but some European allies are reluctant to split so forcefully with Beijing.

Canada, Britain and France largely endorsed Biden’s position on China, while Germany, Italy and the European Union showed more hesitancy, according to two senior Biden administration officials.

The leaders’ final communique is also expected to formally embrace placing a global minimum tax of at least 15% on large multinational companies to stop corporations from using tax havens to avoid taxes.

The minimum rate was championed by the U.S., and dovetails with the aim of Biden — and Johnson — to focus the summit on ways the democracies can collaborate to build a more inclusive, fair global economy and to compete with rising autocracies like China. Non-G-7 nations India, South Korea, Australia and South Africa were invited to attend as guests to bolster the group’s support for fellow democracies.

G7 appreciates India as PM Modi calls for ‘One Earth, One Health’ approach for pandemic

Himanjali Mahanta — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 16:25:49 +0000

During the 47^th Group of Seven (G7) meeting in the United Kingdom, several world leaders appreciated India’s G7 engagement and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interventions, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), adding that India’s engagement was “fruitful and productive”.

Speaking at a special briefing, P Harish, Additional Secretary (ER), MEA, said: “I can say without hesitation that India’s engagement with the G7 and guest countries stand on its own. That is his second G7 summit, as I have said; PM Modi has attended after Biarritz in France in 2019. This is also the first time that India has been engaged at a ministerial level and a working level tracks as a guest country. This is a significant engagement.”

“PM Johnson referred to the four guest countries as forming a democratic – eleven and many countries appreciated India’s G7 engagement and Pm’s interventions in the sessions, which found great resonance in the gathering. So I can say that our engagement was fruitful, it was productive and we hope to take our engagement forward in various initiatives including in the COP26,” he added.

Elaborating on PM Modi’s engagement, Harish informed that his participation in the Summit was based on three broad tracks – global health vaccines and recovery from COVID-19, environmental and climate change and open societies and open economies. The Prime Minister also spoke on the need for open and democratic societies to work together and strengthen each others’ hands to defend the values that they hold dear and respond to increasing challenges.

However, the issue of China was not particularly raised by India during the summit, but the issue was being discussed in other for a, said the MEA Additional Secretary.

PM Modi Saturday gave the mantra of ‘One Earth, One Health’ in his remarks at the outreach session of the G7 summit in the United Kingdom, government sources said. They said German Chancellor Angela Merkel specifically referred to Prime Minister’s mantra and conveyed strong support.