Manage the current pandemic, and avoid the following ones.

G7 leaders expect to make "historic" progress this Saturday with the adoption of a battle plan against future pandemics.

At the top until Sunday in the south-west of England, the heads of state and government of Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the United States have so far displayed their agreement through the traditional family photo on Friday, and a reception around Queen Elizabeth II.

Before continuing the exchanges on Saturday evening around a barbecue and roasted marshmallows on the beach, they got to the heart of the matter by discussing the means for the G7 to polish its weapons in the face of the health crisis.

After promises to donate vaccines to poor countries, leaders want to find ways to prevent such a global catastrophe from happening again.

100 days flat

Boris Johnson presented on Twitter as a "historic moment" the "Carbis Bay declaration" proposed by the G7 to prevent future pandemics.

"With this agreement, the main democracies in the world will commit to preventing a global pandemic from happening again, so that the devastation caused by Covid-19 is never repeated," he said.

The document includes a series of commitments.

It will be about reducing the time frame to develop vaccines, treatments and diagnostics, with the hope that the world will be ready in less than 100 days to deal with sudden illness.

The other component will focus on strengthening health surveillance and implementing reform of the World Health Organization (WHO) to make it more powerful.

An arduous objective without China, which does not appreciate the G7, which it described as a "clique" formed by Washington.

China and Russia on the menu

This statement does not resolve the issue of patent suspension on vaccines.

The United States and France are in favor, but Germany is against it.

For Oxfam, the G7 is too soft on the pharmaceutical industry.

"This declaration does not solve the fundamental problems which prevent vaccines from being accessible to the majority of humanity", even if it means giving up private property on patents, according to the NGO.

But it's not just health: diplomacy, economic issues… the G7 working sessions will follow one another at a sustained pace on Saturday.

China and Russia must be at the center of the planned exchanges on foreign policy issues, while G7 leaders have already warned that they intend to assert their "values" as liberal democracies.

"A new vision"

The US administration, however, ensures that it does not want to shine the spotlight on China.

“It's not about pushing countries to choose between the United States and China.

It is a question of proposing another vision and another approach ”, declared a senior American official.

According to the latter, the United States will announce during the day a new global initiative in infrastructure, with hundreds of billions of dollars in favor of poor or emerging countries.

This plan, which will mainly target Africa and Asia, is supposed to counter China's “New Silk Roads” initiative to finance major projects abroad to increase its influence.

Brexit annoys

This first face-to-face summit for nearly two years also provides an opportunity to advance in private on the issues that annoy. Boris Johnson, whose first summit since leaving the single European market on January 1, continues at the start of the day the tête-à-tête with Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of the European Commission , Ursula von der Leyen.

On the menu, London's attempts to relax post-Brexit provisions on Northern Ireland, which disrupt supplies and irritate Unionists, to the point of upsetting Brussels, which threatens commercial reprisals.

The British government repeats over and over again that it will never agree to call into question the unity of the United Kingdom.

Faced with Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron said he was ready for a relaunch of Franco-British relations but "stressed that this re-engagement required the British to respect the word given to Europeans and the framework defined by the Brexit agreements", indicated the 'Elysee Palace after a meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

World

G7: Greta Thunberg invites herself (despite herself) in the meeting between Jill Biden and Kate Middleton

World

United States: Joe Biden will receive Angela Merkel at the White House on July 15

  • Brexit

  • G7

  • Vaccination

  • Diplomacy

  • World

  • Coronavirus