GLOBAL ACTION PROMISED A
fter a two-day meeting in Germany’s Bavarian mountains, the Group of Seven summit ended Monday with vows to act on a range of issues. Among top concerns:
UKRAINE
Russia was excluded from the annual G-7 summit for the second year in a row because of its alleged role in supporting the continuing conflict in Ukraine between the government and Russian-backed separatists. A consensus emerged among the seven major industrial democracies to maintain economic sanctions on Moscow until it complies with a cease-fire plan for Ukraine.
IRAQ
President Obama said the United States needs to do more to make sure Iraq’s military is adequately trained to fight Islamic State militants, who have been making rapid territorial advances across the region in recent weeks. “We want to get more Iraqi security forces trained, fresh, well-equipped and focused,” he said. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who attended the summit, welcomed the statement.
GLOBAL ECONOMY
The group acknowledged that while growth has improved in some major economies, overall unemployment is still too high. It suggested broad-based changes, including supporting more female entrepreneurs, reducing barriers to trade and creating a better tax system. On Greece’s debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the summit’s host, urged Greece to implement budget constraints demanded by its international creditors.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Leaders agreed the world should stop using fossils fuels — a main cause of global warming — by the end of this century. They will also push to keep rising global temperatures within a band of 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The pledges come ahead of a major United Nations climate conference in Paris in December.
TERRORISM
Leaders recommitted to combating terrorism by fighting its methods of financing, including “an appropriate regulation of virtual currencies and other new payment methods,” they said in the summit’s communique.