Today, leaders from around the world met for 2015’s iteration of the annual G7 Summit. Today, we take a look at some of the major topics discussed, and where things stand to go from here.
Leaders from the seven major industrial nations met in the Bavarian Alps, Germany for this year’s G7 meeting in June 7 to 8 hosted by Angela Merkel, German Chancellor. Under the motto of 2015 G7 Summit, ‘Think ahead, act together’, the seven leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States met to discuss recent global issues. Expected issues up for discussion included: Ukraine crisis and Russia’s support, Iran’s nuclear development issue and the global terror threats of the Islamic State.
Additionally, for the second year in a row, Russia was not a participant in the summit. Since 1998, Russia had taken part in the Summit, but due to the encouragement of rebellion in Eastern Ukraine since 2014, Russia’s absent has continued. Because of the absorption of Crimean Peninsula by Russia and its violation of the International Law, the stance of G7 is strict: Unless Russia is willing to give up its current position, Russia’s never going to take part in the meeting.
Following the talks, 4 things to watch moving forward are:
Climate change played a major role in their conversations, with leaders releasing a statement that declared that the world altogether should end the use of fossil fuels radically until 2100. This consensus has a remarkable meaning because this year December, the UN will hold ‘Climate Change Conference’ and G7’s environmental communique could be a stepping stone toward that conference.
Second, they agreed to maintain their stance of strong economic sanctions against Russia, ‘if necessary’. But G7 added, if Russia wants the sanctions rolled back, President Vladimir Putin follows the guidleines established in Minsk for handling the situation in the Ukraine peacefully.
They discuss the Greece Bailout and urged Greece to solve this problem as soon as possible. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she wanted Greece to keep its status as part of the Euro-zone (the selection of countries that use Euro currency) and since Greece had less time to handle the bailout, it should focus on the bailout.
Lastly, they committed to removing global threats from extremist groups like the Islamic State. With the situation worsening in the Middle East, they declared their commitment to confronting these threatening powers once again.
Cover Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Our-Space-The-San-Jose-Group.png[/author_image] [author_info]Jessi Kim is a Junior Executive at The San Jose Group and a Senior at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea where she is majoring in Business Administration. An avid chef and selfie-taker, she hopes to one day start her own fashion company.[/author_info] [/author]