Virtual ‘dry run’ for Cornwall G7
BRITAIN’S leadership of the G7 gets underway today with a virtual conference that marks the start of the run-up to the meeting of world leaders in Cornwall this June.
Boris Johnson will chair an online gathering to include US President Joe Biden, in his first major multilateral meeting. Mr Biden’s first major overseas trip as president is expected to be his attendance at the G7 Summit at Carbis Bay, St Ives.
At today’s online meeting, also attended by the leaders of France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan, Mr Johnson will pledge to donate the majority of surplus coronavirus vaccines to poorer nations as he tries to rally world leaders to work together on efforts to combat the pandemic.
He will also urge them to back an ambitious target of supporting the development of vaccines for emerging diseases in 100 days in future, a third of the time it took to successfully develop the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.
The Prime Minister will use the meeting to confirm that the UK will share the majority of its surplus Covid-19 vaccines with the international Covax initiative to support developing countries.
It emerged yesterday that, while world leaders remain confident the
G7 Summit can go ahead in June, it will be scaled back compared to previous G7 meetings as a result of coronavirus.
Huge efforts have been devoted to the arrangements, with officials working with Public Health England to ensure it will be safe.
A rigorous testing regime and a system of “bubbles” are likely to be used to prevent the virus spread.
THE Prime Minister will address the leaders of the world’s leading nations at an online opener to the Cornwall G7 talks today, urging them to support efforts to slash the time taken to develop and approve new vaccines and treatments, in line with a 100-day ambition set out by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi).
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance will work with the World Health Organisation and Cepi, along with industry and scientific experts, to draw up plans to speed up the process.
Mr Johnson said: “Perhaps more than ever, the hopes of the world rest on the shoulders of scientists and over the last year, like countless times before, they have risen to the challenge.
“The development of viable coronavirus vaccines offers the tantalising prospect of a return to normality, but we must not rest on our laurels. As leaders of the G7, we must say today: never again.
“By harnessing our collective ingenuity, we can ensure we have the vaccines, treatments and tests to be battle-ready for future health threats, as we beat Covid-19 and build back better together.”
Today’s video conference is the first meeting of G7 leaders since April, 2020, and comes ahead of a summit in Cornwall in June.
As well as the regular G7 members, the Prime Minister has invited the leaders of India, South Korea and Australia to attend as part of his agenda of creating a “D10” of leading democracies.
The Prime Minister has already called for an international treaty on pandemic preparedness.
Mr Johnson wants to ensure the lack of international co-operation going into the pandemic should not be mirrored on the way out of it.
Other issues likely to be on the agenda during the UK’s presidency of the G7 include climate change and the economic recovery from coronavirus, with Cornwall’s potential as a leader in green technology to the fore.