Today on Debut G7 Meeting, Joe Biden to focus on Health, Global Economy and China

Joe Biden will attend his first meeting as U.S. president with Group of Seven leaders today to discuss plans to defeat the novel coronavirus, reopen the battered world economy and counter the challenge posed by China.

UK PM Boris Johnson will host virtual meeting of G7 leaders ahead of its presidency of a summit in June of the Group of Seven countries including the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US. It will also be attended by the Presidents of the European Council and the EU Commission.

The virtual meeting, the first to be hosted by Johnson as part of the UK’s G7 Presidency this year and the first gathering of G7 leaders since April 2020, will bring together the world leaders of leading democracies.

Boris Johnson is keen to build ties with Biden who did not support Brexit and who, as a presidential candidate, last year publicly warned Britain against endangering peace in Ireland.

Johnson has said he is interested in the idea of a global treaty on pandemics to ensure proper transparency after the novel coronavirus outbreak which originated in China.

Johnson will present a five-point plan which includes a worldwide network of zoonotic research hubs, developing global manufacturing capacity for treatments and vaccines, the design of a global pandemic early warning system, the agreement of global protocols for a future health emergency and the reduction of trade barriers.

The call with G7 leaders at 1400 GMT is a chance for Biden, who took over from former President Donald Trump on January 20 this year, to project a message of re-engagement with the world and with global institutions after four years of his predecessor's "America First" policies.

Joe 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 had said yesterday.

The Covid-19 pandemic has killed 2.4 million people worldwide, tipped the global economy into its worst peacetime slump since the Great Depression and upended normal life for billions just as the West grapples with the rise of China.

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.

There have already been positive steps to ensure equitable access to a coronavirus vaccine. Last month, the US announced it would join the COVAX initiative, becoming the final G7 country to do so.

COVAX will provide developing countries with 1.3 billion doses of the vaccine this year and the UK is providing 548 million pounds to the scheme.

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.

China will also be on the agenda.

In his first major foreign policy speech as president, Biden cast China as the "most serious competitor" of the United States. "We'll confront China's economic abuses; counter its aggressive, coercive action; to push back on China's attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance," Biden said has already said showing his focus.

The G7 of the United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada has a combined gross domestic product of about $40 trillion - a little less than half of the global economy.