DHe heads of state and government were already in their seats for the family photo at the start of the summit. Emmanuel Macron took off his jacket, Ursula von der Leyen took off the FFP2 mask. But then got restless, “Justin” came the voice of the crowd. “Boris”, shouted Mario Draghi and clapped, “Boris!” Laughing, the Canadian and British prime ministers hurried and took their places with jokes and pats on the back. And so, just a few minutes after the start G20 Summit Saturday’s meeting in Rome will apparently have the most undisturbed success: a similar reunion in such a large group.
The next moment showed how little this could be considered after a global pandemic. Because after the first round of photographs, Italian doctors, nurses and paramedics in white coats and neon-colored uniforms came to the podium invited by Italian Prime Minister Draghi. A Particularly Moving Moment Like the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel Said on the evening of the first day of the summit. “It also reminded us that although we may meet again, the pandemic is not over.”
“We have to do everything possible to resolve our differences”
So the first of the three weekend work sessions was also about a fair vaccine delivery. The goal shared by the twenty most important industrialized and emerging countries is to increase vaccination rates in a big way. Forty percent of the world’s population should be vaccinated by the end of this year, and then seventy percent by the middle of next year. The health and finance ministers of the G20 countries agreed on this in Rome on Friday. Germany, Merkel said, supports international vaccine initiatives kovax In addition to the one hundred million vaccine doses already promised for this year, there will also be 75 million vaccine doses in 2022.
Draghi requested solidarity at the first personal meeting of G-20 leaders since the start of the pandemic. It is “ethically unacceptable” that just three percent of people in the poorest countries are vaccinated against the coronavirus. Over the years, “protectionism, unilateralism and nationalism” have had a negative impact on cooperation. Now is the time to return to multilateralism, going alone is not an option. “We have to do everything possible to resolve our differences,” Draghi urged heads of state and government. The international community must rekindle the spirit that led to the establishment of the G20.
Italy, which currently holds the presidency of the G-20, is accompanied by the new US President Joe Biden There’s a reason many viewed the summit with optimism: Since February, Draghi has been successful in driving right-wing populists back into Italy and introducing reforms. The former head of the European Central Bank also enjoys a great reputation internationally. It is a relief to hear repeatedly at the summit that hard times with Donald Trump in the United States and other populists in the European Union are far from over. Merkel echoed this at the end of her last summit. When asked at the final press conference on what was the difference between the G20 summit in Hamburg in 2017, he said: Everyone understood that one lives on the planet, the atmosphere was not so controversial. “Perhaps it has to do with the great unity of the world community.”
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