Covid, China on G-7 Summit agenda

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 11

Covid and China will top the agenda at the two-day G-7 Summit that starts in the UK on Saturday. India, along with Australia, South Korea and South Africa, is an invitee to the event at the sea-side resort in the city of Cornwall.

The theme for the Summit is ‘Build Back Better’ and the host, UK, has outlined four priority areas for its period of Presidency of the G-7.

These four agenda points include leading the global recovery from Covid while strengthening resilience against future pandemics; promoting future prosperity by championing free and fair trade and championing shared values and open societies. The fourth is ‘tackling climate change and preserving the planet’s biodiversity’.

Any agenda on the pandemic at such a high-level meet will expectedly seek a deeper probe into the origin of the virus, which is so far suspected to have leaked form a lab in Wuhan, China. At the G-7, leaders are expected to exchange views on the way forward on global recovery from the pandemic with a focus on health and climate change.