G7 meeting in France: What’s on agenda, who is attending?

The Ukraine war, trade tensions and the Iran-US conflict will be on the agenda as leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries are set to meet on Monday in the French town of Evian-les-Bains.

United States President Donald Trump will join fellow world leaders at the summit after announcing a tentative deal with Iran to end the war.

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France holds the rotating presidency of the G7 nations, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US. The summit this year comes amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict.

Who is attending the summit and what is on the agenda? Here’s what we know:

Who is attending the summit this year?

Besides leaders of the G7 countries and the European Union, which is also represented at the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron has invited several heads of state from non-G7 countries as guests.

These include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. While the leaders of India, Ukraine, Egypt and Qatar have confirmed their attendance, it is unclear if the Saudi crown prince will be attending this year’s summit.

Leaders of Australia, Brazil, Kenya and South Korea are also attending.

Meanwhile, in March, South Africa announced that it had been disinvited from this year’s summit after initially being invited. South Africa’s ties with the US, one of its biggest trading partners, have deteriorated over its stand on the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the treatment of the white minority in the country – an issue Trump has raised multiple times, including during his meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House last May.

The Trump administration has heaped pressure on South Africa, claiming it tacitly supports the persecution of white Afrikaner farmers in the country. But the US claims have not been backed by facts. Ramaphosa has rejected these claims. White Africans, who are less than 10 percent of the country’s population, own more than 70 percent of the land.

Besides world leaders, AI executives from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Mistral AI are expected to attend, officials from France –  who are crafting an agenda aimed at discussing the world’s crises and broad economic challenges – told the Reuters news agency.

(Al Jazeera)

What is on the agenda?

During the two-day summit in the French town, leaders are expected to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Iran, as well as world economic challenges.

Ukraine

As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues to rage, Trump, who has been trying to bring Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table, is expected to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and G7 leaders for discussions.

One senior US official told reporters the US wants “the war to end as quickly as possible”.

Meanwhile, European diplomats see the summit as an opportunity to convince Trump that US proposals for a deal have been too favourable to Moscow. European nations also want to signal that they are willing to engage Moscow, while tightening sanctions and boosting military support for Ukraine.

“What we are increasingly seeing ⁠is Europeans beginning to think about a life with less America,” Victor Cha, head of geopolitics and foreign policy at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Reuters.

Iran

Besides Ukraine, leaders are also expected to discuss the next steps on Iran and other pressing issues facing the world.

Many G7 leaders have been directly impacted by Trump’s tariff wars and his decision to join Israel in attacking Iran, which sent oil prices soaring and caused a geopolitical headache for the world. His unilateral actions have led to larger questions about the US commitment to a rules-based world order.

Trump will be greeted on Monday by Macron and is expected to meet separately with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and India.

Trade

Trade and economic growth are also expected to be part of the agenda. Last year, Trump imposed broad tariffs on every member of the G7, as well as on most other countries around the world, prompting a global trade war. While the US Supreme Court struck down the tariffs in February this year, in June, the Trump administration has threatened tariffs of between 10 percent and 12.5 percent on 60 trading partners, including India, the UK, the EU and Australia, over alleged forced labour failures.

Trade and tariffs will be a key part of the discussion when Trump meets India’s Prime Minister Modi.

China

China, the world’s second-largest economy, will not be in attendance at the gathering. But leaders will discuss issues, including Beijing’s dominance and control in the market for rare earth minerals used in everyday electronic appliances.

According to Reuters, France has framed the issue of macro-economic imbalances as a shared responsibility in that China overproduces, the US over-consumes, and Europe underinvests.

Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea will join this discussion, while Macron has urged China to boost its consumption.