Biden to debut at G7 with vaccines, economy and China in focus

U.S. President Joe Biden will attend his first meeting with Group of Seven leaders on Friday to discuss plans to defeat the coronavirus, reopen the battered world economy and counter challenges posed by China.

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed 2.4 million people, tipped the global economy into its worst peacetime slump since the Great Depression and upended normal life for billions.

Biden “will focus on the global response to the pandemic, including vaccine production, distribution of supplies” and efforts to fight emerging infections, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Thursday.

He “will also discuss the global economic recovery, including the importance of all industrial countries maintaining economic support for the recovery” and “the importance of updating global roles to tackle economic challenges such as those posed by China,” Psaki said.

The call with G7 leaders at 1400 GMT is a chance for Biden, a Democrat who took over as president from Republican Donald Trump on Jan. 20, to project a message of re-engagement with the world and with global institutions after four years of his predecessor’s “America First” policies.

Besides Biden, Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Draghi, will be a new face at the leaders’ virtual table, though he is famous for “doing whatever it takes” at the European Central Bank to save the euro during the European debt crisis…..read more

 

Source: Reuters

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