G7 summit produces few tangible results

After two days of meetings with a heavy agenda, leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries left the Bavarian Alps on Monday with few tangible results.

In spite of the fanfare with which the leaders gathered at Schloss Elmau, the summit concluded with a 17-page declaration, which touched on a wide array of issues boiling down to nothing more than some pledges and warnings.P It is the second G7 summit with a comprehensive agenda covering security, social and economic affairs, said John Kirton, director of G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto.

According to the declaration, leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, the United States and Canada discussed issues including world economy, climate change, women's entrepreneurship, financial market regulation, tax, trade, responsible supply chains, Ukraine issue, nuclear safety, Libya, and fight against terrorism.

Climate change was high on the agenda. "Urgent and concrete action is needed to address climate change," the declaration said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel succeeded in persuading the other leaders of the G7 to agree to limit the increase of global temperature to a maximum of two centigrades. They called for all parties to meet a recommendation from the United Nations to reduce 40 to 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 as compared with the levels in 2010.

The agreement is considered as a victory of Merkel, who aimed to get a unified position of the G7 as preparations for the Climate Change Conference in Paris in December this year.

With respect to the world economy, the leaders believe the global economic recovery progressed since their last meeting, though many economies are still "operating below their full potential" and more work is needed to achieve a "strong, sustainable and balanced growth," the declaration said, falling short of specifying concrete and specific plans to prop up the economic recovery.

The leaders pledged to accelerate work on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) issues aimed at completing understandings on the outline of an agreement as soon as possible, preferably by the end of this year.

Leaders spoke with the same voice on the conflict in Ukraine, which has been clearly reflected in the declaration. It called for full implementation of the Minsk agreement and warned of taking further measures of sanctions against Russia, a stance which, more often than not, provokes antagonism.

Reporters at the summit paid much attention to the Greek debt issue, but European leaders including Merkel played down on it. Merkel said that the other G7 leaders shared her view that Greece should remain in the euro zone but Athens should come up with a new program. "There is not much time left," she added.

The summit was held at a time when the G7 countries were struggling to find solutions to the lingering economic and diplomatic problems.

The declaration, as a result of intensive discussions, can hardly dismiss critics' doubt that the G7 group has become increasingly incompetent in addressing their own problems, let alone global issues.

The summit at Schloss Elmau is "a bit more intriguing than usual" partly due to the current global challenges, not many of which the G7 members can tackle themselves, wrote Jim O'Neill, former chief economist of Goldman Sachs, noting the challenges including continued risks of deflation among G7 members and the weakness of European growth.

"Indeed, to foster an environment of more balanced growth, it is difficult to have such a discussion without the presence of some non-G7 members, such as China and India, as well as other large emerging economies that are similarly challenged, such as Brazil and Russia," O'Neill said.

In 1975, the heads of state and government of France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, known as the Group of Six, held the first World Economic Summit. The group was joined by Canada one year later and turned into the G7. It exerted substantial influence on issues like financial crisis and economic recovery in the past.

In 1999, Financial Ministers and Central Bank Governors of some countries convened in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. The mechanism later turned into an organization joined by 19 countries and the European Union, named the Group of 20 (G20).

In 2008, the first G20 Leaders' Summit was held, and the group "played a key role in responding to the global financial crisis," said an introductory statement on the organization's website.

With members from more countries than the G7, the G20 has become "the premier forum for its members' international cooperation and decision-making".

In 2013, when Britain was hosting the summit of the G8, which was formed after Russia joined, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the G8 should "put its own house in order". Enditem