The leaders’ summit concluded on 21 May G7 in Hiroshima and most of the media attention seems to have focused on the dossier Ukraine and on the coordinated response to the Chinese. However, the G7 is also a forum in which the traditional donors of Official Development Aid (ODA) process joint strategies to strengthen cooperation with developing countries o Global South facing existential challenges.
How has the G7 moved about it in the last four years? And what role can it play in the near future to re-establish relations with the Global South? This is the theme ofpublic meeting organized by the Istituto Affari Internazionali, in partnership with Focus 2030 and the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, on 29 May 2023, with the participation of the Sherpa G7/G20 for the Government, with Luca Ferrari.
Cooperation in the pandemic era
In the 2020i jobs of the G7 were absorbed by the economic and health response to the pandemic of Covid-19. However, the issue of universal access to Covid-19 vaccines and initiatives to manage the nascent sovereign debt crisis they emerged from communicated.
These issues were explored by the British presidency of 2021. Il Carbis Bay summit communiqué he reiterated his desire to end the pandemic as soon as possible, vaccinating the largest number of people as quickly as possible. To this end, support forACT accelerator ea COVAX was crucial, along with the need to increase the production capacity for vaccines and health treatments outside the G7 countries.
In addition to health, the topic of debt and financial resources for the recovery of the poorest economies was faced with more details than in 2020. The commitment was renewed to use the Common Framework for Debt Treatments and it was in greater demand transparency in the data. In addition, the G7 countries asked the Multilateral Development Banks (BMS) to explore any options to provide additional resources to the Global South; and supported the new issue of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) by the International Monetary Fund to support vaccination and sustainable recovery, especially on the African continent. To support the recovery, the G7 countries launched their own initiative of infrastructural development, Build Back Better World (B3W).
The G7 under German presidency of 2022 it was instead marked from the Russian war of aggression againstUkraine. The ministers for development cooperation released a declaration on the impact of the war in the countries of the Global South, highlighting the negative effects on food safety and the initiatives launched to counter them, such as the Global Alliance for Food Security.
The fight against climate change He also held a prominent position in the leaders statementwho pledged to provide increased amounts of finance for adaptation, natural disaster risk, and green transitions – the latter supported through ad hoc partnerships (Just Energy Transition Partnerships). Sustainability was also reaffirmed as a principle of the new infrastructure initiative, the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII).
Within financialsupport for Debt Service Suspension Initiative e al Common Framework fu renewed with major urgency, given the deterioration of the sovereign debt crisis in developing countries, and some creditors were called upon to contribute more constructively to the resolution of the crisis. On the 2022 line, the G7 leaders again asked to allocate the new ones SDRs to support the recovery of developing countries, together with a review of the mechanisms of BMS to increase the financial support capacity.
Similarly, the 2021 commitments on the subject of global healthpaying more attention, however, to the link between finance and health and to local production capacity.
The 2023 summit
2022 commitments have generally been reaffirmed at the 2023 Hiroshima summit. G7 leaders have noted of the multiple crises that are particularly affecting low-income countries, and reiterated their willingness to mobilize the necessary resources to help them recover. These resources include development finance in general – ODA included – but also climate finance, Just Energy Transition Partnerships and infrastructure investments through PGII. Attention has also been given to food safetywith a action plan to increase its resilience.
The financial topics were discussed both in relation to the structure for the salute pandemic and pandemic preparedness, both in connection with the climate finance as a form of sovereign debt restructuring. Regarding the debt crisisthe G7 leaders have reiterated the need and commitment to resolve sovereign debt crises through existing initiatives. They also expressed themselves in favor from the BMS reformin line with the agenda of the Indian presidency of the G20.
The Japanese presidency expects further ministerial meetings in the coming months – the G7 Africa Roundtable in October, for example, he will discuss how to strengthen private investment in the continent. There Italian presidency of 2024, however, comes close. What prospects for the Italian G7 and cooperation with the Global South? The 29 maggio some initial answers.
Copertina EPA/G7 Hiroshima Summit Host’s photo