June 14, 2021 | 8:59 am
On Sunday, June 13, the G7 meeting ended, the first that the leaders of those countries had met in person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The countries of the group – Germany, Italy, France, the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom – have pledged to send one billion vaccines against COVID-19 to the COVAX mechanism. Over the next year, they set and plan climate goals Infrastructure that seeks to rival China.
On the subject of vaccinations, They will work with the private sector, the Group of Twenty and other countries to increase the contribution to the multilateral mechanism of the United Nations in the coming months.
I am happy to announce that leaders this weekend committed to 1 billion doses, a major step toward vaccinating the world.
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country will double the amount of vaccines it plans to send to developing countries to reach 60 million doses by the end of 2021.
For his part, President Joe Biden has made it clear that the United States will provide 200 million vaccines this year and another 300 million by mid-2022.
They agree on a framework to prevent future epidemics
The leaders of the seven countries agreed to create the right frameworks to strengthen collective defenses against threats to global health by increasing global manufacturing capacity on all continents; improving early warning systems; And support science in the mission to shorten the development cycle of safe and effective vaccines, treatments and tests from 300 to 100 days.
Johnson noted that countries must work together to avoid “destruction” and, to that extent, the Group of Seven has concluded an agreement to prevent future pandemics. The British president spoke of the application of a “global radar” that is “ready to detect diseases before they spread.”
President Biden made it clear that the system is still under construction, but the idea is that there is a framework to prevent the spread of the pandemic “before it gets out of control.”
They commit to contributing $100 billion to green finance
Countries specifically spoke of their commitment to green finance.
The seven countries pledged to mobilize $100 billion annually by 2025 to help developing countries reduce carbon emissions and take concrete action against global warming.
The concern now is that the new commitment does not detail how countries will achieve this amount, which is why climate groups have criticized this point.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the G7 leaders had agreed to phase out coal. But in the statement they did not specify specific measures to achieve this.
Betting on infrastructure to compete with China’s new Silk Road
The G7 wants to counter China’s economic progress through its “Belt and Road Initiative” strategy.
This project, known as the New Silk Road, helped the Asian giant gain economic power around the world through loans and infrastructure projects.
That’s why the G7 has proposed a new global infrastructure plan that is still under construction, but the goal is already known to be to reduce the $40 trillion infrastructure gap in developing countries here until 2035.
Biden emphasized that the infrastructure plan is a “democratic alternative” to the New Silk Road.
With information from Reuters
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