Russia, China, Ukraine, Africa: What’s on the G7 agenda in Italy? – Al Jazeera English

From frozen Russian assets to growing West-China tensions, leading advanced economies have thorny issues to tackle.
Bari, Italy – Leaders of advanced economies are gearing up for the annual Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Italy in a year marked by wars – in Europe and the Middle East – and growing competition between the West and China.
The heads of state of what is often branded as a “like-minded”, exclusive and Western-oriented club are going to discuss thorny global challenges in the picturesque region of Apulia, which sits on the Adriatic Sea.
This will be the 50th G7 Summit — a three-day event from June 13 to 15 at Borgo Egnazia, a luxury resort.
The G7 countries are the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Britain – so the leaders of each country will be there. They will also be joined by the chiefs of the European Council and the European Commission.
The G7 host also has the discretion to invite guests from other countries for extended sessions. It’s a practice that the grouping has increasingly turned to, as it has tried to present itself as a voice of more than just the wealthy West. But while the number of guests is usually small, Italy has invited a record number of leaders — from Pope Francis and Jordan’s King Abdullah II to the leaders of Ukraine, India, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania.
In addition, the secretary-general of the United Nations and heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will be present.

Yet, for all the weighty subjects on the agenda, the G7 Summit is not a place where agreements are sealed or treaties adopted. It’s rather an informal platform where a handful of major advanced economies discuss issues, traditionally related to global governance and finance, to then produce a final joint statement. That document indicates the direction the group’s members intend to follow while crafting future policies, while offering the rest of the world a window into their priorities.
As the world’s economic power centres have moved from the West towards Asia and emerging economies more broadly, the group’s significance has shrunk. Back in the 1970s, its members’ economies represented about 70 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). But as the 2008 global financial crisis hit and alternative groupings emerged – from the G20 to a recently expanded BRICS – the G7’s relevance shifted from being the most powerful economic club to a group of like-minded industrialised countries. 
This is the first G7 Summit since the expansion of the BRICS — a group whose leading members include China and Russia — last year served as a pointer to the mounting disillusionment in the so-called Global South over the West’s policies.
“A diplomatic win for the Italian government is to have a G7 that clearly communicates that the club is united and unbreakable in the face of geopolitical threats from Russia and China,” said Tristen Naylor, a fellow in international relations at the London School of Economics.
“And to demonstrate that this is more than just paying lip service to the idea of broader engagement,” he added.

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