About:
The 45th G7 summit was held on 24–26 August 2019, in Biarritz, France with the theme “Fighting Inequality”. Key highlights of the summit:
- The G7 commits to reaching an agreement in 2020 to simplify regulatory barriers and modernize international taxation within the framework of the OECD.
- The G7 shares the common objective to ensure that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons.
- in an opaque reference to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine (2014–present), France and Germany announced that they will organize a Normandy format summit in the coming weeks to achieve tangible results.
- in light of the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests, the G7 reaffirmed the importance of the 1984 Sino-British agreement on Hong Kong and calls for avoiding violence.
- On the sidelines of summit, PM Modi met US President Donald Trump and discussed various issues including Kashmir. After the meeting, Trump said Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and both the countries will sort it out themselves.
- Trump and Emmanuel Macron agreed that Russia should be invited to the next G7 Summit in 2020 (In 2014, the G7 declared that a meaningful discussion was currently not possible with Russia in the context of the G8. Since then, meetings have continued within the G7 process).
