The first row of pictures has Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) and Pope Francis (2nd left); while in the second row there is President of European Council Charles Michel (left), British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (2nd left), Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (3rd left), Prime Minister Narendra Modi (4th left) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) at Borgo Egnazia resort, Savelletri during G7 Summit conducted by Italy on June 14, 2024.
The G7 Communique issued at the end of the three-day G7 summit that was attended by India’s PM Modi also reflects on various concrete infrastructure initiatives such as IMEC.
At a luxury resort, Borgo Egnazia, where they posed for their customary “family photo” on June 14, the G7 also restated its dedication to a “free and open Indo-Pacific” premised on rule of law.
During this period, he was formally invited by his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni to take part in these sessions which were held in Rome.
This part says; “We will additionally promote concrete G7 PGII (Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment) initiatives, flagship projects, and complementary initiatives to develop transformative economic corridors for quality infrastructure and investment—for example: with respect to our coordination and financing for the Lobito Corridor, Luzon Corridor, Middle Corridor including India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor—also building on the EU Global Gateway as well as Great Green Wall Initiative alongside Mattei Plan for Africa unveiled by Italy.”
As an idea that breaks boundaries,” IMEC involves a huge network of roads/railways/ships connecting Saudi Arabia-India-U.S.-Europe which ensures integration among Asia (Middle East), Europe (West).
Also it is considered as an attempt by likeminded countries to have strategic influence in the face of China’s BRI which has come under criticism for lacking transparency and ignoring the sovereignty of nations.
BRI project is a big connectivity initiative that connects China with Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Russia as well as Europe. The IMEC came into being at the side lines of last year’s G20 Summit held by India in Delhi.
The Communique says about “Outreach session on Friday on Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa and the Mediterranean” addressed by Mr. Modi: “In a spirit of shared responsibility, we warmly welcome the participation of the Leaders of Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, India, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritania, Tunisia Turkiye and United Arab Emirates.
“We will step-up our efforts to foster greater certainty transparency and accountability across our AI governance approaches while acknowledging that approaches and policy instruments may vary across G7 members; we will take a risk-based approach to this work as we seek to drive innovation and realize strong inclusive sustainable growth.”
Additionally, there are other issues among others that communique sees as mattering most like “unwavering support” for Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia.
The statement also read: “To support Ukraine’s current and future requirements in a sustained defense against Russia, the G7 will initiate Exceptional Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loans for Ukraine which should provide up to $50 billion of additional funding for Ukraine by the end of this year.
Consequently and without prejudice to other possible contributions as we have already said, the G7 would like to finance these liabilities from future extraordinary revenues stemming from immobilisation of Russian sovereign assets held in EU states and other relevant jurisdictions. We will therefore seek approval in these jurisdictions to apply future flows of these extraordinary revenues towards servicing and repaying the loans.”
Pope Francis joined participants at Italy hosted G7 including US President Joe Biden, British PM Rishi Sunak, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel; he is the first Pope ever to do so.
