G7 Meeting In London 1st Opportunity For In-Depth Dialogue Since Biden Took Office - Maas

BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd May, 2021) The upcoming G7 Foreign and Development Ministers' Meeting in London will provide the first opportunity for an in-depth strategic dialogue after US President Joe Biden took office in January, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday.

The minister made the remark before departing for London, saying that this will be the first G7 meeting in the last three years, which he described as a "community of values" shared by more countries than the G7 member states.

"Therefore, it is good that we expanded the list of participants in the London meeting and especially invited important partners from the Indo-Pacific region. London is the first opportunity for an in-depth strategic exchange since the beginning of the Biden administration. We want to take advantage of this opportunity," Maas said, as cited by the Foreign Office.

According to the minister, the meeting is long overdue, as the world has changed dramatically over the past three years, with authoritarian countries all over the world "trying to push us against each other, to make breaking the rules normality, be it in the Indo-Pacific, Latin America or Eastern Europe."

"It is important that we again oppose [this trend] in a cohesive and compelling way with our values of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and rule-based world order," the diplomat added.

The G7 meeting this week will be the first in-person meeting of the member states' foreign ministers since April 2019. Last year, the meetings were held by video because of the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting will also be attended by the representatives from India, Australia, South Korea, South Africa and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.