From Rome
With the presence of numerous leaders from different countries, including Javier Milei and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, leaders of world banks and the International Monetary Fund, representatives of world organizations such as the European Union, UN and OCSE (Organization for Cooperation and Development Economic) in addition to Pope Francis, a meeting of the powerful G7 will begin this Thursday in Borgo Egnazia, a small town in the Apulia region (southeast Italy), until Saturday.
The G7 is a periodic meeting of the seven countries considered among the most industrialized in the world, Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as other guests from the political and economic world. The group was created as a platform for economic and financial cooperation to respond to the energy crisis of 1973. The first summit of the G7 was held in 1975 in France. Between 1997 and 2013 the G7 became the G8 because the Russian Federation was added. But its participation was suspended in 2014 due to the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea.
This year is the seventh time that the G7 is chaired by Italy and that is why it was the right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni who organized the meeting. It will be Canada who will assume the next leadership of the G7, on December 31.
Participants
The member countries of the G7 are normally represented at these meetings by their leaders and, in addition to participating in official activities, bilateral meetings are held between them. According to the White House, the president of the United States, Joe Biden will meet Meloni on Friday and also with Pope Francis and will sign a security agreement with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky will fly to Italy from Berlin where he will participate in other meetings, and then leave for Switzerland for another peace agreement.
Curiously, the only two Latin American countries invited to the G7 are Argentina and Brazil. On the other hand, there are several from Africa such as Algeria, Kenya, Tunisia and Mauritania as well as Middle Eastern countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Turkey, and also India. The African Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will also be present, but not Latin American banks.
It was confirmed by the Vatican that Pope Francis will be present at Friday’s meetings. He will arrive from Rome around 1:00 p.m. by helicopter and will return to the Vatican at 8:30 p.m. According to what he himself has declared, he will talk not only about Artificial Intelligence but also about wars and will hold bilateral meetings with several heads of state, including Lula and Biden.
For his part, the Argentine president will be accompanied by the Secretary General of the Presidency, his sister Karina Milei, and the economic advisor Demian Reidel, but not by the Foreign Minister, Diana Mondino, who will travel to Switzerland. After several changes to his travel program to Europe, Milei decided to only be at the G7 on Thursday and Friday and leave on Saturday for Lucerne, Switzerland, for the peace conference promoted by Zelensky. According to the Italian agency Ansa, after a brief stopover in Rome to refuel, the president’s plane will land on Thursday the 13th at the Karol Wojtyla International Airport in Bari, a city in Apulia about 50 kilometers from Borgo Egnazia where the G7 will take place.
The program
Wars will be at the center of the G7 agenda, especially the war in the Middle East and the war between Russia and Ukraine. But they will not be the only topics. Another important point will be the relations of these seven developed countries with developing nations and emerging economies, especially in Africa. And this perhaps allows us to understand why other Latin Americans have not been invited, only two of the most important countries. The challenge is to build relations with Africa at different levels and establish trade agreements, especially given the increasingly important presence of China.
Another argument to which the Italy of the right-wing Meloni will devote a lot of importance is the immigration issues, because Meloni and his party as well as his right-wing allies, Matteo Salvini’s League especially, are against migrations. Meloni is apparently going to propose that systems be found to put limits on people who migrate.
Climate change and development in Africa, the situation in the Middle East, economic security in the Indo-Pacific zone, artificial intelligence, energy in Africa and the Mediterranean, are also on the program, as well as artificial intelligence and all its consequences. in the world of work. The work will conclude on Friday but everything seems to indicate that the conclusions will be known on Saturday, at Meloni’s press conference.
According to a draft of the final document of the agreement to which the United States economic and finance agency, Bloomberg, had access – it is not known how – the G7 “wants to increase the production and supply” of weapons “to help self-defense.” of Ukraine” and its leaders will warn Russia against “irresponsible” nuclear threats. Likewise, the draft indicates, according to Bloomberg, that the G7 leaders will ask Hamas to accept the ceasefire agreement outlined by US President Joe Biden.
Something that is not contained in the draft and to which the G7 countries are generally reluctant, are some calculations made by the international organization Oxfam (Oxford Hunger Relief Committee). “If the G-7 countries cut 2.9% of their military spending, that is, around 35.7 billion dollars, they would have resources to end world hunger and resolve the external debt crises that crushes many poor and vulnerable countries,” Oxfam said in a statement.
The meeting place
The G7 meeting will take place in an exotic location in Puglia, in Borgo Egnazia, a resort or tourist complex in the Itria Valley. It is a resort that has four swimming pools and three tennis courts and can accommodate 550 people. The structure is made of white stone, typical of the area, surrounded by Arabic-style gardens, restaurants, bars and terraces with great views. Of course it is a very expensive place, built between 2005 and 2010, and which has hosted famous people such as the American singers Madonna and Justin Timberlake and the former English soccer player David Beckman.
Strict safety regulations have been established around the entire resort this week. Thousands of police officers from all over the country who already control the area have been brought to the scene, given that so many important figures will arrive.
