G7 summit : Leaders arrive in Italy for three days of talks
- Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States – are meeting for a three-day summit to discuss global affairs in the southern Italian region of Puglia (Apulia).
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he expects “important decisions” at the G7 summit, where he will also sign security agreements with Japan and the US.
G7 police moved to hotels after being crammed into ‘unsanitary’ cruise ship
Some 2,500 police officers working security at the G7 summit were initially “packed like mice” into a rundown, unsanitary cruise ship before being moved to hotels, according to a regional union for financial police.
Domenico Pianese, secretary general of Italy’s main police union, the COISP, “said the vessel had “dirty and damaged accommodation, unusable toilets, dilapidated showers and flooded cabins”, prompting widespread complaints.
Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper reported the rooms’ air-conditioners were broken and had water dripping from the ceilings. The visiting police officers, it said, were given cold meals after waiting in long lines.
The accommodations stood in sharp contrast with those of G7 leaders, who are staying at a luxurious beachside resort.
UK follows US with sanctions on Moscow stock exchange
The UK has announced dozens of new sanctions aimed at constraining Russia’s war in Ukraine, including targeting Moscow’s main stock exchange, a day after Washington announced similar measures.
“Today’s action includes the UK’s first sanctions targeting vessels in Putin’s shadow fleet, used by Russia to circumvent UK and G7 sanctions and continue unfettered trade in Russian oil,” the government statement said.
The action, part of 50 new sanctions and co-ordinated with G7 partners, also targets suppliers of munitions, machine tools, microelectronics, and logistics to Russia’s military, including entities based in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, the government said.
“Today we are once more ramping up economic pressure through sanctions to bear down on Russia’s ability to fund its war machine,” UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, as G7 leaders meet in Italy.
New US sanctions on Russia ‘a strong signal’ of Ukraine support
The US government issued a new round of harsh sanctions against Russia just a day before the G7 summit in an attempt to show full support for Ukraine as the country struggles to push back Russian troops away from its territory.
“They want to send a strong signal that the US is behind Ukraine, while also trying to get other countries to do the same,” Denisse Rudich, founder and CEO of Rudich, a strategic advisory firm, told Al Jazeera.
She noted that in past rounds of sanctions, Western allies followed the US lead by then imposing their own package of restrictions.
“I anticipate that G7 countries and friends of G7 countries are going to be coming out with their own sanctions measures in the next couple of weeks,” Rudich added.
Moreover, Rudich said it would be a great win for the G7 to get Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of the guests of this G7 summit, to swing his country’s neutral stance on the war in Ukraine.
“If they can get India on board with some stronger language, that would definitely be a bit of a small coup for the G7,” she said.
India is one of the top buyers of Russia’s gas, one of the key lifelines for the Russian war machine.
‘Strongest message we can send is unity’: EU’s von der leyen
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says G7 countries plan to show a unified front at today’s summit.
In a post on X, she said the countries would rally around a UN-backed, three-stage ceasefire plan for the Gaza war and work to shore up financial support for war-torn Ukraine.
A quick reminder about key events ahead
In about five minutes’ time, Meloni is set to welcome Zelenskyy at the Summit Hall, before the session on Ukraine begins at 12:15 GMT.
These talks are expected to go on until 14:00 GMT and be followed by bilateral meetings.
The flag ceremony is expected at 16:05 GMT, followed by the traditional G7 family photo 10 minutes later.
Pope to hold private meetings with foreign leaders
Pope Francis, set to join the G7 summit on Friday, will hold one-on-one meetings with the leaders of the following countries, according to a Vatican programme:
- United States
- Ukraine
- France
- India
- Brazil
- Canada
- Turkey
- Kenya
- Algeria
He will also meet with the head of the International Monetary Fund, said the Vatican.
G7’s host city represents link between West and East, says Meloni
Meloni says Italy chose to hold the summit in Puglia, a coastal region in the south, because it is an historic “bridge between West and East,” thereby sending a message of openness to the Global South.
“Puglia is a land of dialogue at the center of the Mediterranean, of that middle sea that connects the two great maritime spaces of the globe, the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific”, said Meloni in a post on X.
“The message we want to give is of a G7 who, under the Italian presidency, wants to strengthen its dialogue with the nations of the Global South,” she said.
As we’ve been reporting, one of Meloni’s objectives at the summit is to push her flagship foreign policy – the so-called Mattei Plan – which aims to position Italy as a major energy hub between Europe and Africa.
Dispute over abortion reference in G7 statement: Report
AFP, citing diplomatic sources, reports that Italy is trying to tone down a joint statement by G7 nations on abortion access by cutting a reference to “safe and legal” terminations.
Italian PM Meloni, who personally opposes abortion and earlier this year pushed for a law enabling anti-abortion activists to enter abortion advice clinics, wants to axe the reference, one of the sources close to the negotiations told the news agency.
Even though her stance has frustrated many G7 allies, they have decided not to make it a point of contention, the source said, predicting the reference “won’t come back in the text”.
Meloni’s office on Wednesday denied abortion rights had been slashed from the draft final summit statement, saying negotiations were ongoing.
‘Meloni wants to present Italy as the new European face in Africa’
The Italian prime minister wants the crown jewel of her foreign policy to feature prominently at the G7 summit: the so-called Mattei Plan.
The project embodies her vision to project power in Africa and turn Italy into a bridge for gas to be distributed from Africa and the Mediterranean to the rest of Europe, as well as supporting economic growth to stem mass migration from the African continent.
But Meloni’s objectives appear to be centred around investment rather than development.
‘Scandalous that G7 spending more on weapons while cutting aid’
Military spending by G7 countries rose to $1.2 trillion last year, according to Islamic Relief, which said the figure accounted for an increase of 7.3 percent on the previous year and 62 times what they spent on all humanitarian assistance in response to wars and disasters.
G7 contributions to humanitarian aid appeals for global crises fell from $27.5bn in 2022 to $20.1bn last year, a 27 percent drop and just 1.6 percent of what was spent on the military in 2023, the charity said, calling on the grouping to invest more in helping people affected by conflict.
“From Gaza to Sudan, Ukraine to Myanmar we see millions of lives destroyed by war,” Shahin Ashraf, Islamic Relief’s head of global advocacy, said in a statement.
“The humanitarian needs today are greater than ever before, so it’s scandalous that many wealthy G7 nations are cutting aid while spending more than ever before on weapons,” Ashraf added.
