On the second day of their summit in England, the leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialized countries continue to discuss issues, foremost of which are the recovery of the global economy from the crisis caused by the Corona epidemic, and the provision of hundreds of millions of anti-virus doses for poor countries.
The leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan will meet again today, Saturday, to discuss ways to revive the global economy from the downturn caused by the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, which imposed on many countries a closure for many months.
The work of the summit of the countries of the group began yesterday in the city of Cornwall, southwest of England, and will last for 3 days, amid tight security measures, and manifestations of protest that seemed to be limited.
The summit addresses issues of economic recovery from the Corona pandemic, the distribution of vaccines around the world, and facing climate change.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on the leaders of the group's countries to benefit from the lessons of the Corona pandemic, and avoid the mistakes of recovering from the global economic crisis in 2008.
For his part, US President Joe Biden called for action to strengthen commitment to multilateralism.
In a tweet on Twitter, as the summit kicked off, Biden emphasized working with allies and partners to build a more just and inclusive global economy.
In turn, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the failure of some countries in the world to obtain Corona vaccines is one of the most important issues that concern the leaders of major countries.
And Merkel added - in statements on the sidelines of the Cornwall meetings - that discussing plans to recover from the Corona pandemic, and reviewing the conduct of vaccination campaigns against the virus in the seven countries, is on the summit agenda.
With the start of the summit, the US President met with the British Prime Minister, and today he is scheduled to meet with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, and the European leaders participating in the summit held a meeting during which they discussed the relationship between Europe and China, and the financing of efforts to combat Corona.
Johnson (right) met with Biden before the official launch of the G7 summit (Reuters)
corporate taxes
On the economic side, too, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the leaders of the Group of Seven will support President Biden's proposal to impose a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15%.
The Associated Press said Biden would have difficulty passing such a measure in Congress.
A billion doses for the poor
The group is expected to pledge to provide one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to poor countries.
The US President has pledged to donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
The British Prime Minister also announced that his country will provide poor countries with at least 100 million doses of surplus vaccines.
In this context, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the commitment of Washington and London to provide hundreds of millions of doses to the countries most in need.