The summit, which was held at Elmau Palace in the Bavarian Alps, south of Munich, and will last until 28 June, will be attended by the leaders of Germany, the USA, France, England, Italy, Canada and Japan, and the European Union with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also attends. In addition, while the heads of state and government of Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal, India and South Africa, who were specially invited by Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, are expected to attend the second day of the summit, it was announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski will attend the summit via videoconference on Monday morning.
G7 LEADERS AIM TO PROHIBIT GOLD IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA
Russia-Ukraine war and sanctions against Russia are at the top of the agenda at the summit. President Joe Biden, who set foot in Germany on Saturday evening, announced that the G7 countries would ban gold imports from Russia. Biden made a statement on his Twitter account, “The United States has imposed unprecedented costs to deprive Putin of the revenue he needs to finance his war against Ukraine. The G7 will ban the import of Russian gold, an important export resource of tens of billions of dollars to Russia. will explain,” he said. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also stated that he would ban gold imports from Russia, and said, “This measure directly hits the Russian oligarchs and targets the center of Putin’s war machine.” It was noted that gold ranks second among the goods exported by Russia and that the country’s gold exports last year were worth approximately 15 billion 450 million dollars. Host Scholz did not comment on the matter. Scholz said that the reconstruction of Ukraine in the medium and long term would be negotiated at the summit and would propose a “high-level international expert conference”.
In the meantime, it was reported that Scholz and Biden, who met before the summit started, exchanged views on the Ukraine war. While the two leaders did not speak to the press after the meeting, Biden made a brief statement before the meeting and said: “Russian leader Putin hoped that NATO countries would fall apart on Ukraine, but that did not happen. From now on, we will be one.” It was recorded that the two leaders talked for several hours behind closed doors.
AT THE SUMMIT TO BE TALKED ON RELATIONS WITH CHINA
Among the other topics expected to be discussed at the G7 summit, apart from the Russia-Ukraine war, there are 5 main topics: “sustainable world”, “economic stability and transformation”, “healthy life”, “investment in a better future” and “multilateralism”. . It has been announced that leaders and delegations will address these issues in working groups. It is also envisaged that relations with China and the country’s commercial and economic practices will be discussed. Some of the leaders participating in the G7 will travel to Madrid, the capital of Spain, on Tuesday to attend the NATO Summit, where NATO member states will discuss the restructuring of the alliance.
PARTICIPATION IN THE G7 PROTEST IS LESS THAN EXPECTED
On the other hand, far fewer people than expected attended the demonstration organized by the opponents of globalism and capitalism in Munich on Saturday to protest the leaders of the G7. Claiming that the G7 countries are not sufficiently engaged in issues such as poverty, food crisis, fighting hunger and reducing dependency on fossil fuels, the protesters reported that 20 thousand people would participate in the action, only 4 thousand. It was announced that more than 20 thousand police and soldiers would be on duty for security, while German security units blockaded a 4-kilometer area against possible incidents in the region where the summit was held. Due to the G7, Germany temporarily suspended the Schengen application, which envisages free movement with neighboring countries.