Context:
The Group of Seven wealthy democracies discussed how to form a common front towards an increasingly assertive China in the Foreign Ministers’ first in-person talks in two years.
Relevance:
GS-II: International Relations (Important International Groupings, Foreign Policies and conferences affecting India’s Interests)
Dimensions of the Article:
- Group of Seven (G7)
- G7: First in-person talks Highlights
Group of Seven (G7)
The Group of Seven (G7) is an international intergovernmental economic organization consisting of the seven largest developed economies (International Monetary Fund IMF- advanced economies) in the world.
G-7 Countries are:
- Canada,
- France,
- Germany,
- Italy,
- Japan,
- The United Kingdom and
- The United States.
The European Union is sometimes considered an eighth member of the G-7, since it holds all the rights and responsibilities of full members except to chair or host the meeting.
- G7 Summit is an event conducted annually where world leaders from seven powerful economies of the world come together to discuss burning issues happening around the globe.
- The major purpose of the G-7 is to discuss and deliberate on international economic issues.
- G7 is capable of setting the global agenda because decisions taken by these major economic powers have a real impact. Thus, decisions taken at the G7 are not legally binding, but exert strong political influence.
- It sometimes acts in concert to help resolve other global problems, with a special focus on economic issues.
G7: First in-person talks Highlights
- Backing U.S. President Joe Biden’s calls for a deeper alliance of democracies, host Britain invited guests, including India, South Korea and Australia, for talks in central London.
- The G7 devoted its first session to China, whose growing military and economic clout, and willingness to exert its influence at home and abroad have increasingly unnerved Western democracies.
- Japan has historic tensions with China but has held off on joining Western nations with sanctions.
- Italy has been seen as one of the most Beijing-friendly nations in the West, in 2019 signing up for China’s massive infrastructure-building Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) but Italy joined EU peers in summoning the Chinese Ambassador in a row triggered by concerns over treatment of the Uighurs.
-Source: The Hindu
