The UK will host the first in-person meeting of Group of 7 (G7) Foreign and Development Ministers in over two years at talks secured against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) next month.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced in Parliament, on Tuesday, that the Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting would take place in central London between 3-5 May.
Organisers will put strict COVID-19-secure measures in place, including daily testing to ensure the health and well-being of all staff, attendees, and the public. All domestic social distancing guidelines will be in force.
The meeting is a crucial opportunity to revitalise in-person diplomacy and will look to establish a shared approach among the world’s leading democracies on equitable vaccine access. It also looked to agree global girls’ education targets, rigorous goals on climate finance, and new measures to prevent famine and food insecurity.
The last G7 Foreign Ministers meeting took place in April 2019 at Dinard and Saint-Malo in France.
As well as G7 countries, namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, US & UK – plus the EU) the Foreign Secretary has also invited India, Australia, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, and the Chair and Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to join parts of this year’s G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ meeting as guests.
Their attendance will bring broader experience and geographic representation, and demonstrates the importance of the Indo-Pacific region.
Raab said, “The meeting of G7 Foreign and Development Ministers next month is an opportunity to show how the world’s biggest democracies work together to ensure equitable access to vaccines, build back better from the pandemic, support girls in the poorest countries get a good quality education, and agree ambitious action to tackle climate change.”
