MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Group of Seven (G7) upcoming summit would put specific emphasis on the “global challenges,” not only on the members’ own problems and concerns, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
Germany took over the G7 presidency last June. The summit is scheduled to take place in the Bavarian Elmau Castle, outside Munich, on June 7-8.
“However, this G7 summit is about much more than crisis diplomacy. As has been the case ever since the format was established, it is of course also an opportunity to discuss the global economic situation,” Angela Merkel said in an article published in The Globe and Mail newspaper Tuesday.
The members of the summit would pay increased attention to the international development policy, as well as climate protection, Merkel added.
The number of international challenges is growing, and in the future, the G7 will need "many other" partners, according to Merkel.
The G7 comprises leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In 2014, the G8 format became the G7 when Moscow was suspended from the group, following Crimea's reunification with Russia and the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis.
Meanwhile, the Stop G7 group of protesters announced in May that it was planning an action near Elmau protesting against G7 policies, among which they named racism, militarization and war, the exploitation of nature.
