A two-day summit of the Group of 7 leaders is starting today at the luxurious Borgo Egnazia hotel in the Puglia Region of southern Italy. One of the main topics of the event will be Ukraine, in particular, the transfer of profits from frozen Russian assets to the country, The Guardian reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will personally attend and meet with his American counterpart Joe Biden, as well as the leaders of Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, and Japan. They are expected to reach an agreement on a $50 billion loan to Kyiv, to be paid for with future profits from Russia's frozen €300 billion.
Most of these funds are held within the European Union. Earlier this year, the EU agreed to transfer the profits from these frozen assets to Ukraine, but not the assets themselves. And the idea of the G7, which includes countries outside the bloc, is to provide Ukraine with more and faster support to finance its defence needs.
In addition to Ukraine, the summit will focus on development and climate change and the war in the Middle East. Discussion sessions are scheduled for today:
- Africa, climate change and development
- Middle East
- Ukraine (G7 + Ukraine format)
- Ukraine (G7 format)
Tomorrow's sessions will include discussions on migration, artificial intelligence, energy, the Indo-Pacific region and economic security.
In addition to the Ukrainian president, other guests are invited to the summit. Among them: Pope Francis, the King of Jordan, as well as the leaders of India, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, the UAE, Kenya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania, which holds the African Union presidency.
They were joined by President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.