The Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, UK, enters its second day, featuring heads of states and governments from the G7 countries (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US). At the same time, the event welcomes leaders of guest countries including Australia, India, South Africa, and South Korea.
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that she discussed with US President Joe Biden at the G7 summit his forthcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, as well as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
"I have actually had a meeting with the US President; we will have soon an opportunity to talk longer. First of all, today we discussed his future meeting with Vladimir Putin and exchanged views in this regard", Merkel said.
The chancellor added that the leaders also briefly discussed the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, mentioning that the countries are conducting negotiations over the project and they are "on the right path."
Merkel also said that Ukraine should remain a gas transit partner.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States and France are "on the same page" and can work together to further strengthen NATO, US President Joe Biden told his French counterpart on Saturday, adding that he felt strongly about ensuring NATO's "cohesion".
"As we say back in the States, we're on the same page", Biden told Macron during a televised conversation on the margins of the ongoing G7 summit in the UK.
The US president also explained that he stood fully in support of both NATO and the EU.
"We feel very very strongly about the cohesion of NATO and I for one think that the European Union is an incredibly strong and vibrant entity that has a lot to do with the ability of Western Europe to not only handle its economic issues and provide the backbone and the support for NATO", Biden said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The leaders of the G7 countries have touched on the issues facing Ukraine and Belarus during the ongoing summit's session on foreign policy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday.
"Session on foreign policy: we discussed the EU's Eastern neighbourhood at length", von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
On Ukraine, von der Leyen said that the G7 "supports Ukraine's territorial integrity" but added that the country needed further reforms to create "strong institutions acting based on the rule of law."
Session on foreign policy: we discussed the EU's Eastern neighbourhood at length.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 12, 2021
As Russia continues to undermine the European security order, we can count on a strong translatlantic alliance to meet this challenge. #G7UK
In a separate tweet, the European Commission president said that the G7 leaders were "very concerned" by the current political situation in Belarus, following the country's presidential election last year that saw incumbent Alexander Lukashenko register a landslide victory.
We are all very concerned by the situation in Belarus.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 12, 2021
The EU acted quickly and forcefully to impose further sanctions. @G7 cooperation will make those sanctions more effective.
The EU is also working on a €3 billion investment plan to support a future democratic Belarus.
The European Union recently imposed a series of fresh sanctions on Belarus after a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius made an emergency landing in Minsk on May 23.
The plane was carrying Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, who the Belarusian government had labelled an extremist. Protasevich was detained by Belarusian law enforcement after the passenger jet touched down in Minsk.
Von der Leyen said that G7 "cooperation" would make the bloc's sanctions against Belarus stronger.
G7 heads of state are currently holding an in-person summit at Carbis Bay, in the English county of Cornwall. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged leaders to learn the necessary lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that future outbreaks of infectious diseases do not turn into pandemics.
"It’s great to have a US president who’s part of the club and very willing to cooperate. What you demonstrate is that leadership is partnership", President Macron said addressing his US counterpart.
LONDON (Sputnik) – Hundreds of protesters summoned by the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion have gathered on Saturday in Falmouth, in the English county of Cornwall, for the second day in a row to demand the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) meeting at nearby Carbis Bay to act immediately to tackle climate change and protect the environment, a witness told Sputnik.
Clare Saunders, professor of Environmental Politics at the University of Exeter, told Sputnik via WhatsApp that the protest is being held “very peaceful”, with scarce police presence, despite thousands of officers were deployed in the coastal town to protect the three-day G7 meeting that kicked off on Friday.
Saturday’s XR-led demonstration in Falmouth is focused in denouncing the “greenwashing” practices used by big companies who portrayed themselves as environment friendly while they continue profiting from the use of fossil fuel.
The online edition of the local media outlet Cornwall Live also reported that hundreds of people paddling out Falmouth’s Gyllyngvase Beach to call on the leaders of Canada, Germany, United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom to take action to protect the ocean, while beachgoers cheered them from the shore.
Anti-G7 protests are expected to continue on the last day of the summit on Sunday, with demonstrations focusing on the UK government’s attempts to pass a bill that would give law enforcement agencies more powers to restrict peaceful protests.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a pair of bilateral meetings on Saturday morning with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 summit, with trade, security, and the post-Brexit issues on Northern Ireland at the centre of discussions.
"The Prime Minister met German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G7 Summit in Cornwall today. They agreed on the importance of the UK and Germany working together bilaterally to strengthen trade, security and the links between our people", Downing Street said in a press release.
Johnson and Merkel also discussed China, Russia, and Northern Ireland, with both parties agreeing that the Northern Ireland Protocol, the set of regulations governing the island of Ireland in the post-Brexit era, must be implemented by both the UK and European Union.
During his meeting with Macron, Johnson is said to have "expressed confidence" in the UK's position on the Northern Ireland Protocol, according to a separate press release.
The two leaders also discussed the possibility of strengthening bilateral relations between France and the United Kingdom, Downing Street said.
"The leaders looked forward to deepening the bilateral relationship between the UK and France, through more cultural, economic and security cooperation", the press release read.
Johnson and Macron also discussed the issue of illegal migration across the English Channel, following a surge in sea arrivals in the UK over recent months, Downing Street said.
The three-day G7 summit began in the southwestern English county of Cornwall on Friday. Opening the first session, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the international community should "learn the lessons" from the COVID-19 pandemic and bolster resiliency and preparedness.
UPDATE | Hundreds of supporters of 'Kashmir's self-determination' gather in Cornwall for protest https://t.co/E9OR9rDU1r#SputnikUpdates pic.twitter.com/1mlA4JlhJF
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) June 12, 2021
LONDON (Sputnik) – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday hailed a declaration on preventing future pandemics to be adopted at the ongoing Group of Seven (G7) summit in the English county of Cornwall as “historic.”
“The Carbis Bay Declaration [named after the seaside hotel where the in-person meeting is being held] marks a proud and historic moment for us all. Under this agreement, the world's leading democracies will commit to preventing a global pandemic from ever happening again, ensuring the devastation caused by COVID-19 is never repeated”, Johnson wrote on Twitter.
The #CarbisBayDeclaration marks a proud and historic moment for us all.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 12, 2021
Under this agreement, the world's leading democracies will commit to preventing a global pandemic from ever happening again, ensuring the devastation caused by COVID-19 is never repeated.
The document, which according to the UK government will be agreed by the leaders of Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States later on Saturday, will be published on Sunday alongside the G7 final communique.
The steps to prevent future pandemics include slashing the time taken to develop and license vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for any future disease to under 100 days.
The world’s richest nations will also promise to reinforce global surveillance networks and genomic sequencing capacity and support reforming and strengthening the World Health Organisation, while the UK has pledged to fund, together with the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, the creation of a new animal vaccine center in Surrey, England.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United Kingdom has to keep its promises on Northern Ireland trade as agreed in the UK-EU post-Brexit future partnership agreement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday.
"The Good Friday Agreement & peace on the island of Ireland are paramount. We negotiated a Protocol that preserves this, signed & ratified by the United Kingdom and the European Union. We want the best possible relations with the UK. Both sides must implement what we agreed on", von der Leyen wrote on Twitter following a meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the margins of the G7 summit in the English county of Cornwall.
The Good Friday Agreement & peace on the island of Ireland are paramount.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 12, 2021
We negotiated a Protocol that preserves this, signed & ratified by 🇬🇧🇪🇺
We want the best possible relations with the UK.
Both sides must implement what we agreed on.
There is complete EU unity on this. pic.twitter.com/SjMVsEaWYA
Tensions between the United Kingdom and the European Union have remained high despite both sides agreeing to a future partnership agreement late last year, following the UK's exit from the bloc.
The EU has accused the UK government of attempting to backtrack on its pledges to implement border checks on food and agricultural goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
This measure has been seen as a stopgap to prevent the establishment of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which would be seen to violate the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 deal that brought an end to decades of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.
Over recent days, threats of a so-called "sausage war' have emerged, after UK ministers pledged to unilaterally ignore legally-required checks on chilled meat moving from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland once a grace period expires at the end of June.
The United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, triggering an 11-month transition period that gave both London and Brussels time to conclude a host of agreements, including a wide-ranging free trade deal.
After months of negotiations, both parties reached a future partnership agreement on December 24, avoiding the prospect of a no-deal Brexit with just one week to spare.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The leaders of the G7 countries are set to agree on a new declaration covering public health measures as part of efforts to prevent the outbreak of another infectious disease pandemic in the future, the UK government, which is hosting the ongoing G7 summit, said on Saturday.
"G7 leaders will commit to using all their resources to prevent a global pandemic from ever happening again when they meet in Cornwall today (Saturday). The world's leading democracies are expected to agree [upon] the 'Carbis Bay Declaration', an historic statement setting out a series of concrete commitments to prevent any repeat of the human and economic devastation wreaked by coronavirus", the government said in a press release.
The declaration includes commitments to drastically reduce the time needed to develop and license vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics for any future disease to under 100 days. It also includes targets to boost global disease tracking and genome sequencing capacity, along with a pledge to reform and strengthen the World Health Organisation.
"The president told Boris Johnson there needed to be a reset of the Franco-British relationship", Reuters has reported, citing an anonymous source. "This can happen provided that he keeps his word with the Europeans", the source noted, adding that Macron spoke in English, when he expressed his offer.
