On Friday, G7 leaders will work to facilitate poor countries’ access to COVID-19 vaccines, during their first hypothetical meeting since Joe Biden came to power, on the promise of diplomacy that runs counter to that of Donald Trump.
Also read: All epidemic developments
The meeting scheduled to take place in the afternoon between the leaders of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada, in the presence of the European Union presidents, headed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with the United Kingdom taking over the rotating presidency of the group.
This exchange is the first since April 2020, after the health situation led to the cancellation of the summit that Donald Trump was hosting. Meanwhile, the arrival of his Democratic successor to the White House ended four years of unilateralism, as Washington signaled his return to multilateral organizations, such as the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization.
Underlining this trend, Joe Biden on Friday promised $ 4 billion for the United Nations’ Covax machine. This program, led by the World Health Organization, aims to provide anti-Covid vaccines this year to 20% of the population of nearly 200 participating countries and territories, but above all includes a financing mechanism that allows 92 low and middle income economies to access valuable doses. .
For its part, the European Union will announce doubling its contribution to “Kovacs” to reach one billion dollars and a contribution of 100 million euros in humanitarian aid to the vaccination campaign in Africa.
The great powers have launched, with varying success, large-scale vaccination campaigns against the Corona virus, which has caused the death of more than 2.4 million people around the world, but the deprived countries are still on the sidelines at the moment.
Rich countries have requested massive amounts of doses, without knowing whether these vaccines will be effective, but with the number of successful projects, hundreds of millions of overdoses will end up at their disposal.
Macron wants to go “too fast”
Boris Johnson, who can show off the success of his vaccination campaign, has pledged to redistribute most of his surplus via Kovacs. But his government, in a hurry to break out of three very difficult restrictions, wants to prioritize its residents.
Secretary of State James Cleverley told the BBC: “Our first duty is to protect our people,” while reaffirming London’s desire to help the poorest countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron would like to go faster. Believing that it is “unsustainable” that poor countries are neglected, he pleaded in the Financial Times to rich countries to send 3% to 5% of their available doses to Africa very quickly, and for people to see them reach the continent. “
He emphasized that “this does not slow down” the Western vaccine strategy. He warned of a “war of influence” not to act, citing China and Russia.
Climate and China
Four months before the summit the UK is planning to hold at the Corniche seaside resort, this meeting marks the first multilateral exchange of Joe Biden.
Over the course of his first telephone conversations and speeches, he has already outlined the evolution of US diplomacy: a tougher rhetoric against Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the desire to return to the Iran nuclear deal, and pledges to exhausted allies.
As a sign of the desire to repair transatlantic relations, Joe Biden is scheduled to speak on Friday afternoon, with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, at the Munich Security Conference, the first for a US president at this annual event that brings together state leaders, diplomats and. Specialize in security.
During this “hypothetical visit to Europe”, the Democrat’s primary message will be to affirm the “return of the United States to multilateralism” with the great powers, according to a US official.
Joe Biden also wants to take advantage of the G7 meeting to reaffirm the priority his administration has given to the climate issue, while Washington formally joins the Paris deal on Friday.
On the other hand, there is no boycott with Donald Trump with regard to China, which Washington wants to reassert its firmness towards.
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