Leaders pledge to share, but jostle for ground in the sandbox
CARBIS BAY, ENGLAND >> Group of Seven leaders brought pledges to share vaccine doses and make a fairer global economy Friday to their seaside summit in England, where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the coronavirus pandemic should not be allowed to leave a “lasting scar” on the world.
The wealthy nations’ leaders were all smiles and unity as Johnson greeted them on the freshly raked sand of Carbis Bay, but they jostled over who was doing most to help the world’s poorer nations fight COVID-19.
Recovery from the pandemic was set to dominate their discussions, with members of the wealthy democracies club expected to commit to sharing at least 1 billion vaccine shots with struggling countries. That includes the pledge from President Joe Biden to share 500 million doses, and the promise from Johnson for another 100 million shots.
Opening three days of talks in Cornwall in southwest England, Johnson warned that world leaders must not repeat errors made over the past 18 months, or those made in the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis.
“It is vital that we don’t repeat the mistake of the last great crisis, the last great economic recession in 2008, when the recovery was not uniform across all parts of society,” he said after leaders posed for a formal “family photo” by the sea.
“And I think what’s gone wrong with this pandemic, and what risks being a lasting scar, is that I think the inequalities may be entrenched,”
Johnson added.
The leaders of the G-7, which also includes the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, hope the meeting at the resort will also energize the global economy.
As Johnson led the politicians off the beach, French President Emmanuel Macron threw his arm around the shoulders of Biden, whom he was meeting for the first time.
Facing criticism that they are hogging vaccines, the leaders are competing to be the global champion of many wounded by the virus. With 3.7 million people lost in the pandemic, the world’s richest democracies are eager to show themselves the champions of the afflicted.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hoped the summit would show the world “we’re not just thinking of ourselves.”
‘Clear goals’ sought
Macron sought to underscore that, noting that
France had already shipped vaccine doses to the world’s poor, and gently chided countries that have not by urging in a tweet for “clear goals” and “concrete commitments.”
For Johnson, the first G-7 summit in two years after last year’s was scuttled by the pandemic, is a chance to set out his vision of a postBrexit “global Britain” as a mid-sized country with an outsized role in international problem-solving.
On Friday, Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s biggest global star, traveled from Windsor Castle near London for a reception with the leaders and their spouses at the Eden Project, a futuristic botanical garden housed inside domes that features the world’s largest indoor rainforest.
Senior royals, including heir to the throne Prince Charles, his son Prince William and William’s wife, Kate, joined the leaders for the reception and a dinner of roasted turbot, Cornish new potatoes and greens with wild garlic pesto cooked by a local chef.
The choice of an ecologically themed venue was deliberate. Climate change is also a top issue on the agenda, and hundreds of protesters gathered in Cornwall to urge the leaders to act, some dressed as sea creatures such as jellyfish. Demonstrators deployed a barge off the coast with two large inflatable figures depicting Biden and Johnson on board.
Tax in sight
The G-7 was also set to formally embrace a global minimum tax of at least 15% on multinational corporations, following an agreement reached a week ago by their finance ministers. The minimum is meant to stop companies from using tax havens to shift profits and to avoid taxes.
It represents a potential win for the Biden administration, which has proposed a global minimum tax as a way to pay for infrastructure projects. The idea also creates an alternative that could remove some European countries’ digital-services taxes that largely hit U.S. tech firms. But the endorsement from the G-7 is just one step in the process. The hope is to get many more countries to sign on, a fraught proposal in nations whose economies are based on attracting business with low corporate taxes.
But the main issue of the day was vaccines and the mounting pressure to outline global vaccine-sharing plans, especially as inequities in supply around the world have become more pronounced. In the U.S., there is a large vaccine stockpile, and the demand for shots has dropped precipitously in recent weeks.
Biden said the U.S. will donate 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses in the next year, 200 million of them by the end of 2021. That commitment was on top of 80 million doses Biden has already pledged to donate by the end of June. A price tag for the doses was not released, but the U.S. is now set to be the largest donor to the international COVAX vaccine effort, as well as its biggest funder.
Johnson said the first 5 million United Kingdom doses would be shared in the coming weeks, with the remainder coming over the next year. He said he expected the G-7 to commit to 1 billion doses in all.
Macron said France would share at least 30 million doses globally by year’s end. Germany plans to donate the same amount.
The COVAX vaccination campaign got off to a slow start, as richer nations locked up billions of doses through contracts directly with drug manufacturers. The alliance has distributed just 81 million doses globally, and large parts of the world, particularly in Africa, remain vaccine deserts.
Humanitarian workers welcomed the new donations, but said the world needs more doses and sooner.
“We are still far from getting there,” said United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who was due Friday to attend the summit the next day as a guest.
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