During a summit that witnessed a push towards a new dynamism based on multipolarity

The G7 agrees to boost vaccination campaigns and protect the environment

During the working sessions, Biden sought to consolidate the ranks of his allies in the face of Moscow and Beijing.

Reuters

Yesterday, the leaders of the Group of Seven countries affirmed their determination to put an end to the “Covid-19” pandemic through the distribution of vaccines, and they also pledged to address climate change, at a summit that witnessed a push towards a new dynamic based on multipolarity, led by the United States.

The three-day summit in Cornwall, in the southwest of England, was the first in nearly two years and saw a return to face-to-face contact after months of video conferencing.

Under the leadership of Washington, the leaders of the countries of the group sought to show unity on the major issues facing the world, starting with climate change, through the pandemic, and reaching the practices of Russia and China.

And in the face of the increasing calls in recent months for solidarity, the countries of the group reached a pledge to distribute more than one billion doses of vaccines against “Covid-19” by the end of 2022 in the hope of eradicating the pandemic, according to what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced at the conclusion of the summit.

Several parties, from non-governmental organizations to the World Health Organization, considered that the pledge is very small, considering that the world needs 11 billion vaccine doses to eradicate the pandemic.

The leaders of the Group of Seven countries prepared a plan aimed at preparing the world to enable it to respond to a new pandemic within less than 100 days, and they also called on the World Health Organization to investigate more in-depth about the origin of the Corona virus in China to see if it was caused by an accident in a laboratory.

The diplomatic approach towards China and Russia had a significant share during the summit.

The Group of Seven called on China to "respect human rights" in both the western region of Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of committing violations against minorities, and Hong Kong, where it targets democracy activists.

During the working sessions, US President Joe Biden sought to close the ranks of his allies in the face of Moscow and Beijing, which constitutes a main goal of his European tour, which is supposed to confirm the “return” of the United States to the international arena after the end of the era of former President Donald Trump.

Yesterday, the US President stressed that his country was back in international diplomacy through the G7 summit, which reflected "exceptional cooperation and productivity."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel considered that the arrival of Joe Biden to the White House gave "new impetus" to the group's work.

The Group of Seven also touched on the environmental aspect of a large-scale global infrastructure plan presented Saturday for poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, to encourage green growth by stimulating investments in renewable energy resources and clean technology.

This project was launched on the initiative of Biden.

The project is supposed to rival the "New Silk Roads", a massive investment plan being deployed by China with the aim of increasing its influence abroad.

But this approach angered Beijing, which condemned the decisions of a "small group of countries," as it put it.

Yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that the Group of Seven "is not an anti-Chinese club", and said that the seven industrialized countries represented a "collection of democracies" seeking to "work with China on all global issues" apart from differences.

After the summit, Biden stressed that the Global Infrastructure Fund announced by the leaders of the Group of Seven countries would be "much more equitable" than the Chinese "Belt and Road Initiative", calling on Beijing to respect international standards.

The leaders also reiterated their commitment to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to halt government subsidies to coal-fired power plants, starting this year.

The goal is to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial level, a threshold that scientists believe would put climate change out of control.

In this context, the leaders of the countries intend to provide two billion dollars to support the transition process towards green energy in the poorest countries.

The contributions of the G7 will increase in order to find financing of up to $100 billion annually until 2025 for environmental policies in poor countries.

Environmental activists see these decisions as weak and demand actions, not words, which they stressed during demonstrations in Cornwall.

Greenpeace denounced the re-launched "old promises", while the Extinction Rebellion described the summit as a "failure".

Earlier, a draft statement showed that the leaders of the Group of Seven called for a transparent study based on science, including in China, to know the origin of the Corona virus, with the World Health Organization taking over the matter.

"We also call for the timely and transparent conduct of the second phase of the study on the origin of (Covid-19), and based on science, led by the World Health Organization, including in China, as recommended by the experts' report," the semi-final statement said.

• The leaders of the group are calling for a transparent study based on science, including in China, to find out the origin of “Corona”.

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