G7 Summit in Germany: Agreement Reached.

    

The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial nations met for a two-day summit in the Bavarian Alps with a heavy agenda including global terrorism, Ukraine and climate change.

According to the Vanguard, the following are the main points of what was agreed at the stunning Elmau Castle location, taken from the final statement:

– UKRAINE –

Leaders said they were “ready to take further restrictive measures in order to increase cost on Russia should its actions so require.”

They said the “duration of sanctions should be clearly linked to Russia’s complete implementation of the Minsk agreements and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

The leaders also voiced concern about the recent flare-up in fighting and urged “all sides to fully respect and implement the ceasefire and withdraw heavy weapons.”

– TERRORISM –

Unusually, the G7 leaders invited several heads of government from countries fighting jihadists to attend the talks.

“In light of the Foreign Terrorist Fighters phenomenon, the fight against terrorism and violent extremism will have to remain the priority for the whole international community,” the G7 communique said.

“In this context we welcome the continued efforts of the Global Coalition to counter ISIL/Daesh. We reaffirm our commitment to defeating this terrorist group and combatting the spread of its hateful ideology.”

They pledged to “strengthen our coordinated action” against terrorism, including in the fight against “terrorist financing”.

– CLIMATE CHANGE –

The leaders said “urgent and concrete action” was needed to address climate change.

They said “deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required with a decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of this century.”

“As a common vision for a global goal of greenhouse gas emissions reductions we support … the upper end of the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) recommendation of 40 to 70 percent reductions by 2050 compared to 2010, recognising that this challenge can only be met by a global response.”

– GLOBAL ECONOMY –

“The global economic recovery has progressed since we last met,” leaders noted, with the decline of energy prices having “supportive effects in most of the G7 economies.”

“However, many of our economies are still operating below their full potential and more work is needed to achieve our aim of strong, sustainable and balanced growth,” they stressed.

“Overall G7 unemployment is still too high, although it has decreased substantially in recent years,” the statement said.

– TRADE –

Fostering global economic growth by reducing barriers to trade remains “imperative” and the leaders “reaffirm our commitment to keep markets open and fight all forms of protectionism, including through standstill and rollback.”

The seven leaders also “welcome(d) progress on major ongoing trade negotiations, including on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the EU-Japan FTA/Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

– HEALTH –

The Ebola crisis has shown that the world needs to “improve its capacity to prevent, protect against, detect, report and respond to public health emergencies,” the communique said.

Leaders said they were “strongly committed to getting the Ebola cases down to zero” and recognised the “importance of supporting recovery for those countries most affected by the outbreak.”

“We must draw lessons from this crisis,” they said.

– LABOUR SAFETY –

“G7 countries have an important role to play in promoting labour rights, decent working conditions and environmental protection in global supply chains,” the statement said.

– WOMEN –

The leaders noted that “across G7 countries and around the world, far fewer women than men run their own businesses often due to additional barriers that women face in starting and growing businesses.”

“We agree on common principles to boost women’s entrepreneurship … We will make girls and women aware of the possibility of becoming entrepreneurs,” the statement added.