The UK has announced plans to hold the first in-person meeting of the G7 for nearly two years in June, inviting the leaders of major developed economies to a picturesque seaside village to discuss rebuilding from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday said that he wants to use the UK’s presidency of the G7 to forge a consensus that the global economy must recover from the COVID-19 crisis in a pro-free trade and sustainable way.
“Coronavirus is doubtless the most destructive force we have seen for generations and the greatest test of the modern world order we have experienced,” he said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
“It is only right that we approach the challenge of building back better by uniting with a spirit of openness to create a better future,” Johnson said.
The UK has suffered badly during the health crisis, with the highest death toll in Europe of more than 88,000 people.
However, while a third wave of the virus has been causing more than 1,000 deaths per day, the country is leading the way on vaccinations, having been the first in the world to authorize their use, and hopes to have much of the population protected within months.
Last year’s G7 meeting, due to be hosted by US President Donald Trump, was canceled due to the pandemic, meaning the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US — as well as representatives from the EU — have not met in person since the 2019 meeting in Biarritz, France.
The Sunday Telegraph newspaper said the British government hoped the event would be the occasion for US president-elect Joe Biden’s first trip to Europe after he becomes president on Wednesday.
“I don’t think he will visit anywhere else before the G7, except possibly Canada,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed British government source as saying.
Johnson has also invited Australia, India and South Korea to attend.
The summit is to take place in the tiny resort of Carbis Bay in Cornwall, southwest England — an area now most famous for its beaches and surfing, but also home to fishing fleets and once an important mining area.
“Two hundred years ago Cornwall’s tin and copper mines were at the heart of the UK’s industrial revolution, and this summer Cornwall will again be the nucleus of great global change and advancement,” Johnson said.
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