According to their agenda, German delegates are hoping to secure commitments to tackle global warming to build momentum in the run-up to a major UN climate summit in Paris in December. The agenda also lays out plans to discuss global health issues, from Ebola to antibiotics and tropical diseases.
US President Barack Obama said leaders would discuss the global economy, trade partnerships and "standing up to Russian aggression in Ukraine," as well as threats from violent extremism and climate change.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and European Council President Donald Tusk both said they hoped the G7 would present a united front on sanctions towards Russia.
Meanwhile, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper said on Saturday that G7 leaders will also express their concern over any unilateral action to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas.
At the end of the summit, members are likely to release a declaration calling for the maintenance of an international order of the sea based on international law, the newspaper said, without citing any sources.
"Japan is making consistent efforts to use multilateral platforms like the G7 to meddle in the South China Sea," Jin Canrong, a professor from the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times Sunday.
He stressed that "Japan's desire for foreign support reflects its weakness."
Jin argued that European countries may support Japan and the US in return for the US allowing China to have special drawing rights - a type of international monetary reserve currency created by the IMF that would demonstrate the reliability of the reminbi - which the US has been preventing China from acquiring.
Foreign ministers from G7 countries - Germany, Britain, Canada, Italy, France, Japan and the US - released a joint statement in April, which read that they continue to "observe the situation in the East and South China Seas and are concerned by any unilateral actions, such as large-scale land reclamation, which change the status quo and increase tensions."
If the South China Sea is mentioned in the declaration, the G7 are likely to voice their hope that regional tensions can be eased, Zhou Yongsheng, a professor off International Studies from China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.
"By discussing maritime security, Japan is luring other countries to restrict China," said Zhou.
He emphasized that China has not violated any international laws while conducting construction activities on its territory.
"Issues concerning political security have become increasingly important, especially as Japan and the US are at loggerheads with China, and Europe has its own safety concerns [regarding the Ukrainian crisis]," Cui Hongjian, a senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.
Source: Agencies-Global Times
7-8/6/15
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U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed Greece in their bilateral meeting ahead of a summit of Group of Seven (G7) leaders, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Sunday.,,
ReplyDeleteThe two leaders agreed Greece must reform and return to sustainable long-term growth, with Obama hopeful Athens and its partners can chart that course without causing volatility in financial markets, the spokesman added.
REUTERS
Canadian, German, British leaders speak for single position on Ukraine...
ReplyDeleteCanadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper held meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron, and the sides confirmed the necessity to maintain a single position [of G7] on the situation in Ukraine, the Canadian premier’s press service reported.
The leaders of Canada, Germany and Britain also stressed during a G7 summit in Germany that Russia should respect and implement the Minsk agreements.
Harper also discussed with Merkel and Cameron economic issues. In particular, the talk was about the soonest possible ratification of the Canada-European Union trade agreement.
In the conversation with the British premier, Harper touched upon the issue of fighting international terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, where Canada and Britain are taking part in the US-led operation to eliminate Islamists.
http://tass.ru/en/world/799359
8/6/15