Carbis Bay declaration - G7 Summit

Why in news?

The G-7 summit recently took place in the U.K., and the leaders jointly signed the Carbis Bay Declaration.

What are the highlights?

Vaccine - The G7 pledged over the next 12 months to secure a further one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses.
This will be either through donating surplus supplies or providing further finance to Covax.
[Covax is the UN-backed scheme charged with distributing vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.]
The G7 also committed to invest $12 trillion in the combined pandemic recovery plan.
It also pledged to reinforce global surveillance for potentially dangerous diseases.
Economy - The joint statement set out plans to reduce roadblocks to production in Africa.
On the controversial issue of enforced temporary waivers of patents, it said the leaders will support manufacturing in low income countries.
They would engage constructively on the issue of intellectual property waivers in discussions at the WTO.
The G7 also agreed to increase the special drawing rights (SDRs) in IMF of low-income countries by $100bn.

What was the U.S.'s role?

United States’s new President Biden vowed that “America is back” to take the lead on global challenges.
The G-7 commitments on vaccines and pandemic recovery depends on U.S. commitments for a large part.
There was an invitation by the G7 to “fellow democracies” India, Australia, South Korea and South Africa.
There was also special communiqué on “Open Societies” for the G-7 outreach.
These are an extension of Biden's stated commitment to convening a Democracy Summit soon.

What is G7's stance on China?

Consensus amongst the seven-member countries on countering China was an important message from the meet.
The final G-7 communiqué holds no less than four direct references to China, each negative.
It includes criticising Beijing for its -
1. rights record in Xinjiang and democratic freedoms in Hong Kong
2. “non-market policies and practices”
3. concerns over its actions in the China Seas
The G7 also underscored “the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.

Besides, there was a demand for a transparent investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus.
The G7 also vowed to cooperate with China on issues such as the climate.

What are the concerns?

The bonhomie among the G-7 leaders was obvious.
But the differences and contradictions in the grouping remain a challenge.
Even two decades ago, questions were raised about whether the grouping (earlier, the G-8), could claim to be the world’s “richest” countries.
This is especially true when emerging economies, China and India, are not included.
On economic issues, the EU is a more representative unit than the individual European G-7 member countries.
Finally, G-7 is much an exclusive club of the “haves” or “the best vs the rest.”
This seems anachronistic in a world that is much more interlinked now than in 1975, when the grouping first came about.
Given all this, G7 needs to be more open and less exclusive in an increasingly interlinked world.

Where does India stand?

At the recent meet, India voiced concerns about some clauses in the joint communiqué on Open Societies.
The communiqué condemned “rising authoritarianism”, net shutdowns, manipulation of information, and rights violations.
These are areas the Indian government has often been criticised for in the recent years.
However, India signed off on the joint statement by G-7 and guest countries on “open societies.”
The statement reaffirms and encourages the values of “freedom of expression, both online and offline".
In the present, India will be expected to walk the talk on its commitments at the G-7 outreach, especially in the areas of information clampdowns.
[Notably, India had the largest number of Internet shutdowns in 2020.]

Source: The Hindu, The Guardian