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Live Updates: Second Day of G7 Summit in Biarritz, France

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The annual G7 summit started the day before in Biarritz, France with the seven leaders of the member states discussing important international economic and financial issues.

The G7 summit in Biarritz, France slated to last until August 26 has set the issue of inequality and the advancement of universal access to social welfare as its main priority despite a new escalation in the trade war between the US and China.

At the same time, the summit has been met by huge ways of protests in several parts of France with organisers stating that the rallies are meant to attract attention to the contribution of the G7 member states to growing inequality and to underscore the difference between the leaders' promises and their actions.

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17:55 GMT 25.08.2019
16:29 GMT 25.08.2019

People marched on Sunday for the second day in a row in the southern French city of Hendaye in protest at the ongoing G7 summit in the nearby town of Biarritz, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.

About 200 people marched on Sunday, chanting anti-G7 slogans under the supervision of law enforcement officers, who used a drone and two helicopters to monitor the situation.

People also marched in the French city of Bayonne, a few miles from Biarritz, throughout the weekend. On Saturday, tensions between demonstrators and police escalated as law enforcement hosed down and used tear gas against the few hundred people who marched in Bayonne. On Sunday, the protests were calmer, Sputnik’s correspondent said.

The three-day G7 summit began in Biarritz on Saturday. More than 13,000 French policemen have been called to provide security for the event and its participants.

16:24 GMT 25.08.2019

"We, France and Germany, have stressed that we want a summit with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents to be held soon, after a preparatory meeting of advisers and foreign ministers takes place", Merkel said, adding that the sides are planning to convene the next meeting in the French capital of Paris.

16:20 GMT 25.08.2019

"As a goodwill gesture and a step towards creating space for negotiations, we have responded to France's proposal. We want to export 700,000 bpd of oil and get paid in cash ... and that is just for a start. It should reach to 1.5 million bpd", a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

Another official emphasised that "Iran's ballistic missile programme cannot and will not be negotiated. We have underlined it clearly and openly".

An Iranian diplomat noted that Iran had also ruled out any negotiations on its "right to enrich uranium, its home-made nuclear fuel cycle ... and in return, we will be fully committed to the 2015 nuclear pact".

 

15:43 GMT 25.08.2019
15:14 GMT 25.08.2019
14:15 GMT 25.08.2019
13:35 GMT 25.08.2019

The agreement may be signed in September, Donald Trump specified. The US president continued by saying that he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe successfully reached consensus on the core elements related to agricultural and industrial trade.

"We’ve been working on a deal with Japan for a long time. And we’ve agreed in principle ... billions and billions of dollars," Trump said.

12:39 GMT 25.08.2019
12:16 GMT 25.08.2019

"I'm not happy about it, but then again he's not in violation of the agreement," Trump said, referring to a deal that prohibits the firing of long-range ballistic missiles.

11:42 GMT 25.08.2019

"This measure would strongly impact the Italian system, considering how our automotive industry is integrated with that of Germany," Conte told other G7 leaders.

11:20 GMT 25.08.2019

"The president was asked if he had 'any second thought on escalating the trade war with China'. His answer has been greatly misinterpreted," spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said.

"President Trump responded in the affirmative -- because he regrets not raising the tariffs higher."

10:54 GMT 25.08.2019
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets European Council President Donald Tusk for a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, August 25, 2019.  - Sputnik International
10:52 GMT 25.08.2019
09:35 GMT 25.08.2019

On Sunday, G7 leaders discussed the Iranian issue; according to the summit's host, Emmanuel Macron, the leaders have agreed on joint action and communication with Iran.

"We agreed on what we wanted to say jointly on Iran," Macron told LCI television. "Everyone wants to avoid a conflict, Donald Trump was extremely clear on that point," he added

Commenting on the issue, US President Donald Trump said that he supported French President Macron's and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's outreach to Iran.

G-7 Working Session - Sputnik International
Macron Says G7 Leaders Agreed Joint Action on Iran to Avoid Escalation of Actions in Region
09:25 GMT 25.08.2019
09:09 GMT 25.08.2019

Roberto Castaldi, the director of the Research Centre on Multi-Level Integration and Governance Processes at the eCampus University, who also serves as the research director of the International Centre for European and Global Governance

The G7 is an obsolete format. When it was created it accounted for a vast majority of the world economy. Today it does not. China and India economies are bigger than those of many participants. The G7 could make sense as a forum of democracies. But it should focus on political rather than economic issues, leaving those to the G20.

The last G7 meetings highlighted that Trump agenda opposes all the other G7 members on trade, environment, security cooperation. So it shall not come as a surprise that also the Biarritz meeting will not produce any spectacular decision able to solve any of the global problem. However, it helps put pressure on Trump on environmental and other issues.

08:49 GMT 25.08.2019

"The President and Prime Minster also addressed global security issues of mutual concern, especially Iran’s threat to freedom of navigation in the Gulf, tensions in Hong Kong, 5G and Huawei, and instability in Libya and the Sahel region," the White House said in a statement.

08:12 GMT 25.08.2019

"As president of the G7, the president did indeed get the power to discuss and send a message to Iranian authorities on the basis of the exchanges we had last night," a French presidential source.

US President Donald Trump, however, has reportedly refuted the claims of agreeing to mandate that Macron hold talks with Tehran on behalf of the G7.

Later on, Macron denied that he had received any mandate from the fellow G7 leaders to hold talks with Iran on the club’s behalf, noting that the nations, "each in its role," would make coordinated efforts in this regard.

07:26 GMT 25.08.2019
06:59 GMT 25.08.2019
06:57 GMT 25.08.2019
06:52 GMT 25.08.2019
US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson  - Sputnik International
06:40 GMT 25.08.2019

According to Bloomberg outlet, US President Donald Trump told reporters during the G7 summit in France that he might invite Russian President Vladimir Putin as a guest for the next summit that will be held in the US.

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