Group commits to unspecified measures to enforce price cap on Russian exports in response to Ukraine war
Finance ministers of the G7 nations vowed on Saturday to step up efforts to prevent Russia from evading sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.
“We remain committed to taking further initiatives in response to oil price cap violations,” the group said in a statement after a meeting in Washington. Those further steps were not spelled out in detail.
Continue reading...Young child reportedly found on overcrowded boat trying to cross Channel, hours after G7 countries agree plan to combat smuggling gangs
A two-year-old child was crushed to death and three other people died in two attempts to cross the Channel from France on Saturday.
French authorities said the infant died after being trampled following a “wave of panic” among migrants trying to board a dinghy.
Continue reading...President’s off-the-cuff remark outside White House over possible retaliation triggers global oil price rise
Joe Biden has said that his administration has been “discussing” possible Israeli plans to attack Iran’s oil industry in retaliation for the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.
Biden’s off-the-cuff remark did not make clear whether his administration was holding internal discussions or talking directly to Israel, nor did he clarify what his attitude was to such an attack.
Continue reading...Forecast upgrades UK to joint second after US but it is still expected to have highest inflation among G7 countries
The global economy is “turning a corner”, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which has upgraded the UK’s growth forecast for this year to faster than that of Japan, Italy and Germany.
The OECD’s latest outlook ranked Britain joint second among the G7 developed countries in its latest outlook for the world economy. However, the UK is still expected to have the highest inflation in the group.
Continue reading...New business secretary set to tell international counterparts at G7 meeting ‘Britain is back on world stage’
Britain is taking its first steps towards forging closer trading links with the EU in meetings between the new business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, and international counterparts in Italy.
In his first overseas visit since Labour’s election landslide, Reynolds will tell a G7 meeting of trade ministers in the Italian city of Reggio Calabria that the new UK government wants to foster a “closer, more mature relationship with our friends in the EU”.
Continue reading...The Italian prime minister also stated the EU will not directly contribute to a $50bn loan to Ukraine agreed at the summit
Israel is falling into a trap laid by Hamas in its war in Gaza, Giorgia Meloni said at a press conference closing the G7 summit in Bari that affirmed her role as a leading figure in Europe. The Italian prime minister also stated that the EU will not directly contribute to a $50bn loan to Ukraine agreed by the G7 leaders.
And she underlined her status by declaring that she will start talks on Monday about the allocation of top jobs in the EU on the basis that Europe has to accept the verdict of the people reflected in the results of last week’s European parliament elections.
Continue reading...UK prime minister says he sees ‘eye-to-eye’ with his Italian counterpart on issue of migration
Rishi Sunak has praised his “fantastic” Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, as he announced the launch of a G7 coalition to tackle people-smuggling.
The prime minister, who is in Puglia in Italy for the G7 summit, said he and Meloni saw “eye-to-eye” on the issue and had spearheaded efforts to tackle it since they were elected.
Continue reading...Concerns set out over supply of materials with military applications, and impact of subsidies on global market
China’s role in providing assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine, and its “harmful overcapacity” in the production of cheap goods, have been targeted by G7 leaders despite misgivings from Germany.
On the second day of the annual summit, being held in Puglia under the Italian chair, the US drove home a 36-page communique that condemned Chinese subsidies for products such as solar panels and electric cars which it said were leading to “global spillovers, market distortions and harmful overcapacity … undermining our workers, industries, and economic resilience and security”.
Continue reading...Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy hold a joint press conference just over two hours behind schedule
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni has just arrived at the venue.
This is the scene at the Borgo Egnazia resort as G7 leaders are scheduled to begin arriving.
Continue reading...Giorgia Meloni appears to recoil from UK PM, who has no formal bilateral meetings with other G7 leaders on day one
Rishi Sunak has insisted he was not being snubbed by other leaders after his first day at the G7 summit ended without any bilateral meetings with his counterparts and he had an awkward encounter with Giorgia Meloni.
Meloni, the Italian prime minister who is one of Sunak’s closest international allies, appeared to recoil from him after they embraced on his arrival in Puglia for the G7 leaders’ summit on Thursday.
Continue reading...US wants show of strength with planned sanctions for helping Russia, but group will also discuss migration, Middle East and AI
A dramatic expansion of entities exposed to US sanctions for helping the Russian economy and an EU-led $50bn loan to ease the financial burden on Ukraine will be at the centre of discussions at a summit of the leaders of wealthy G7 nations in Puglia, Italy, starting on Thursday.
The leaders, facing unprecedented challenges from discontented electorates, will be under heightened pressure to provide concrete results as their three days of discussion range across an interlinked agenda encompassing the war in Ukraine, migration, Africa, the Middle East, the climate crisis and harnessing artificial intelligence (AI).
Continue reading...Foreign ministers confident of agreement to use bank assets as security for Ukraine reconstruction loan
Hopes of a multi-country deal to use $300bn of Russian state assets frozen in the European banking system to support Ukraine have grown after it emerged that G7 ministers were confident of overcoming technical and political obstacles at a meeting in northern Italy on Saturday.
The Canadian finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, said she was optimistic that G7 leaders would reach an agreement, as support coalesced around a plan to use frozen Russian central bank assets as security for a $50bn (£39bn) loan.
Continue reading...IMF has revised up growth forecasts but medium-term prospects remain poor as globalisation goes into reverse
The 2020s are almost halfway over and are on course to be the most difficult decade for the global economy since the 1930s. Every finance minister and central bank governor at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington last week knows that, even if they were not prepared to admit it publicly.
The IMF likes to look on the bright side. It revised up slightly its forecast for global growth and now thinks scarring from the coronavirus pandemic and the cost of living crisis will be less severe than it originally feared. Interest rates have risen without triggering the recessions that were predicted. A soft landing has been finessed. The performance of some countries – the US and India to take two examples – has been strong.
Continue reading...Grim milestone comes as G7 leaders urge Netanyahu not to press ahead with Rafah invasion
The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza climbed to more than 34,000 on Saturday, with the majority of victims women and children, including at least six killed by an overnight airstrike on a house in Rafah.
The latest grim milestone comes as hope of a ceasefire has dimmed, and global attention has shifted to the dangerous exchange of missile and drone strikes between Iran and Israel.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s leader knows he needs to win over nonaligned countries such as Brazil and India to increase the pressure on Russia
Normally G7 summits are about battling for the free world comma by comma, as diplomats parse lengthy communiques of ephemeral significance long into the night. Words, after all, constitute much of a diplomat’s work.
At the Hiroshima G7 some of the communiques emerging from the summit do matter, notably the toolbox on de-risking trade with China, but the true significance of the summit lay in Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s scene-stealing visit courtesy of a ride in Emmanuel Macron’s French aircraft.
Continue reading...UK prime minister goes further than G7 summit statement in outlining challenge posed by Beijing
China poses the biggest challenge to global security and prosperity of our age with the “means and intent to reshape the world order”, Rishi Sunak has said.
The UK prime minister said G7 leaders including Japan, the US, Canada and European nations had shown “unity and resolve” in confronting the problems posed by Beijing.
Continue reading...UK PM says at G7 summit that end to war will need to recognise country’s territorial integrity
Rishi Sunak has said a ceasefire in Ukraine would not be enough, as any end to the war will need to recognise the country’s territorial integrity and include a plan for “just and durable” peace.
The UK prime minister said the last session at the G7 summit in Japan had involved a “conversation about peace” in Ukraine and what it should look like, with more neutral countries India and Brazil also taking part.
Continue reading...Joe Biden says US doing everything possible to strengthen Ukraine’s defences in war with Russia
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has secured fresh military aid from the US during a day of frantic diplomatic activity at the G7 summit, as Russia claimed a battlefield victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
Joe Biden announced military assistance worth up to $375m (£300m) to Kyiv, telling Zelenskiy the US was doing everything possible to strengthen Ukraine’s defences in its war with Russia.
Continue reading...Joint visit during G7 summit seen as further evidence of determination to overcome longstanding friction
Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, have paid their respects at a memorial to the tens of thousands of Korean victims of the atomic bombing, in a further sign of improving ties between the north-east Asian neighbours.
The pair, accompanied by their wives, laid bouquets of white flowers before lowering their heads at the memorial in the city’s peace park on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 summit, where Yoon is one of several non-member leaders taking part in “outreach” sessions.
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Birmingham says cost of Coalition’s jobseeker plan is ‘being worked through’
Asked whether the Coalition would support a lift to the jobseeker payment, Birmingham tells David Speers that Peter Dutton has “proposed an important alternative that would help Australians who are willing to and looking to engage in the workforce”.
We’ve outlined an alternative at this stage, David. We are not at an election and not about to firm government in the next two years.
That clarity should be there before the prime minister entertains a formal state visit to Beijing.
We should expect them to be lifted complete, as we should the tariffs on our wine industry.
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