COVID’s ‘roots,’ China, protests at sea, beach BBQ: What’s happening on Day 2 of the G-7 summit
Joe Biden and other leaders of some of the world’s wealthiest nations returned to work Saturday with a focus on the economy, foreign policy and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saturday is Day Two of the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England. The gathering is the leaders’ first in-person meeting since the start of the coronavirus crisis, and much of the discussions have focused on what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called “the most wretched pandemic the world has faced for at least our lifetimes.”
Leaders are expected to commit to using all of their resources to preventing a global pandemic from ever happening again.
Here’s what’s on their agenda for Saturday:
G-7 primer: From COVID vaccines to ‘family photo,’ takeaways from Day 1 of summit
‘Roots’ of the pandemic
A session on health policy will focus on addressing the root causes of the COVID-19 pandemic on a global level. G-7 leaders will be joined at that discussion by their counterparts from South Korea, South Africa, Australia and India, the secretary general of the United Nations and other leaders of international organizations.
The leaders are expected to issue a statement setting out a series of concrete commitments to prevent any repeat of the human and economic devastation wreaked by coronavirus.
Joe Biden points to G-7 summit, NATO, Russia’s Vladimir Putin meeting as ‘defining’ moment for democracy
China and the West
The White House says it is not seeking to make China the “overriding issue” while Biden is in Europe. But Beijing’s economic development model, its human rights record in Xinjiang, and its lack of transparency on a range of issues from the environment to labor standards will dominate discussions Saturday.
G-7 leaders will announce a new global infrastructure initiative called “Build Back Better for the World.” It is being framed as an alternative to China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” a massive multitrillion-dollar development project than spans dozens of countries and whose overall idea is to update and reinvent the ancient Silk Road that connected China to Europe and beyond. China has been helping finance, often through predatory loans, international railways, highways, ports and other major infrastructure as part of its initiative.
G7 agree to back 15% global minimum corporate tax rate, more taxes for tech giants
Beach barbecue
How do you follow dinner with the queen?
With a beach barbecue, no less.
Friday night, the G-7 leaders and their families dined with Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Royal Family on spiced melon, turbot roasted on the bone and English strawberry pavlova. Tonight’s dinner promises to be a less formal affair.
Carrie Johnson, wife of Boris Johnson, is hosting a barbecue at Carbis Bay beach for the leaders and their families. The dinner fare will include scallops, Curgurrell crab claws and Portscatho mackerel, followed by sirloin and Newlyn lobster. Afterward, the VIPs will be offered baked brie, hot buttered rum and toasted marshmallows around firepits on the sand. And to drink (it is, after all, the queen’s official birthday): Cornish sparkling wine, German Riesling, Australian Shiraz, Cornish beer and hedge row fizz cocktail.