CGTN America
U.S. President Donald Trump, fourth left, speaks during a round table meeting of G7 leaders and Outreach partners at the Hotel San Domenico during a G7 summit in Taormina, Italy, Saturday, May 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The G7 summit closed with a consensus on terrorism, compromise on trade and confusion on the environment. There was also condemnation of Pyongyang, and criticism of Moscow.
For the first time, Washington split with its partners on a major, common challenge: climate change.
CGTN’s Mariam Zaidi reports from Taormina, Sicily.
In the early morning, G7 leaders gathered to focus on Africa and were joined by leaders of five African nations. Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Niger and Tunisia.
G7 summit country host Italy is on the front-line of Europe’s migration crisis. It has been keen for the world’s wealthiest nations to help Africa develop its economy in an effort to persuade young Africans to stay home and not risk it all to come to Europe.
“It’s not going to be a philanthropic type of relationship. There is a lot that Africa can offer. Huge natural resources, young people. This is a continent that will push world growth in the 21st century. This is Africa’s century,” Berhane Gebre-Christos, special envoy of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia said.
Capacity building in Africa was one of the few success stories of this summit. Friday saw leaders throw their support and solidarity behind the U.K. in the aftermath of the devastating attacks in Manchester. G7 leaders agreed to press technology companies and social media sites to do more to identify and remove terror propaganda.
Leaders also struggled to find common ground on global trade and sanctions on Russia. Migration became just a footnote, angering some aid agencies.
There was also a lack of consensus on climate change. Six of the seven G-7 nations reaffirmed their commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement, but the United States had been given more time to decide on its stance. This frustrated summit leaders.
“The entire discussion about climate was very difficult, if not to say very dissatisfying. So far, there are no indications whether the United States will stay in the Paris Agreement or not,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
The U.S. President Donald Trump spoke just before he left Italy, at the U.S. Naval airbase. He said great progress had been made at the G7, and that he had shared his economic goals and thoughts on migration.
