(Savelletri Di Fasano) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Italy on Thursday to kick off the G7 leaders’ summit.
The three-day summit is an opportunity for leaders of seven wealthy democracies – France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Japan – to work together on goals common.
During the summit, Justin Trudeau is expected to meet, among others, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy.
He is also expected to participate in working sessions with other leaders on collaboration on Africa, climate change, the Middle East and Ukraine.
Ukraine should also be a major item on the agenda during the summit. Notably, the question of whether G7 leaders will reach an agreement on using frozen Russian assets to provide financial aid to Ukraine is on everyone’s lips.
Last month, G7 finance ministers indicated they were close to reaching agreement on a U.S. proposal to extract more money from Russian assets frozen in their countries and redirect it to support for Ukraine.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is advocating an approach that would involve borrowing against future interest income from frozen assets. This could immediately give Ukraine up to 50 billion.
However, a final agreement on this has not yet been reached.
After the G7 Summit, Mr. Trudeau will travel to Switzerland on Saturday to attend the Ukraine Peace Summit, where a larger group of countries will meet to discuss a first step toward peace in the country that is trying to push back the Russian invasion for three years.
Swiss officials clarified that the conference aims to chart a path towards “lasting peace” in Ukraine, achieve a “common understanding” to get there and develop a road map on how to involve both sides in the talks.
Canada will in turn host the G7 Summit next year.
