Virtual G7 event: Biden will meet with world leaders over Covid-19 meeting on Friday

Virtual G7 event: Biden will meet with world leaders over Covid-19 meeting on Friday

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This is his first meeting with leaders of the Group of Seven Nations as president and is a departure from former President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic and global relations.

He will focus specifically on areas, including ‘coordination on the production, distribution and supply of vaccines, as well as ongoing efforts to mobilize and co-operate on the threat of emerging infectious diseases by building land capacity and establishing health security funding’, ‘ Released Sunday night.

As for rebuilding an economy plagued by the pandemic, Biden wants to focus on “the importance of all industrialized countries maintaining economic support for the recovery,” the statement said.

The virtual meeting, hosted by the United Kingdom, will also include leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the European Commission and the European Council.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement at the weekend that he would use the virtual opportunity to seek global cooperation in the fight against the ‘common enemy’ of the coronavirus. Johnson will order the leaders to ‘work together on a global approach to pandemics that puts an end to the nationalist and divisive policies that have harmed the initial response to coronavirus’, the statement said.

“Quantum leaps in science have given us the vaccines we need to end this pandemic for the better. Now the world governments are responsible for working together to make the best use of the vaccines. I hope 2021 will be remembered as the year in which “humanity has worked together” like never before to defeat a common enemy, “Johnson said.

Although the global cases of Covid-19 have declined in recent weeks, the virtual meeting is coming because new variants threaten to throw a wrench into the government’s vaccination plans.

Biden’s pledge to coordinate with other governments on the pandemic and the world economy offers another break with Trump’s approach to foreign policy.

When the pandemic escalated worldwide last year, Trump announced that he was postponing the summit, “because I do not feel like a G7, it probably represents what is going on in the world.”

“This is a very outdated group of countries,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One at the time.

During his tenure, Trump publicly questioned and downplayed the value of the United States’ long-standing alliances, including with NATO, Germany, South Korea, and Japan. The former president also hailed the US from the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate agreement, the World Health Organization and a host of other United Nations agencies.

On his first day in office, Biden reversed several of Trump’s attempts to withdraw from international agreements, and began the process of rejoining the Paris climate agreement and stopping the departure of the World Health Organization.
In remarks to the State Department earlier this month, Biden stated that “diplomacy is at the heart of US foreign policy again” as he promised to “rebuild” US alliances worldwide.

Biden particularly emphasized the need to rebuild America’s moral status after four years of a president who repelled traditional alliances and increasingly despised democratic norms.

However, Biden’s to-do list for foreign policy is long. Over the past four years, tensions with China and Iran have increased, Russia has become rogue, North Korea has become a major nuclear threat and relations with allies have been damaged.

This story was updated Sunday with additional information.

CNN’s Schams Elwazer, Nicole Gaouette, Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.

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