Here's what the G7 summit achieved... and what it didn't

The seven biggest democracies agreed on more sanctions on Russia, and to launch a global food security initiative. But, questions remain over the "Global South"

By the time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew into Hiroshima on the afternoon of May 20, it was clear that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and efforts to push back against it would dominate proceedings at the G7 Summit.

Even before the G7 summit, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and efforts to push back against was set to dominate proceedings(AFP)

Even before the start of the summit, whose outreach sessions were attended by eight guest countries including India, the Japanese leadership made it clear that it intended to use the deliberations to send out a strong message about upholding the international order based on rule of law and rejecting any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force.

Zelenskyy, who joined the G7 leaders and heads of invited countries for a special session at the summit, which took place between May 19 and 21, made a strong push for both renewed military support for Ukraine to fight against the Russian invasion and taking forward the ten-point peace formula he first unveiled at the G20 Summit in Indonesia last year.

Despite foot-dragging by some European countries, there has been strong buy-in among most of the G7 members for efforts by Japan and the US to continue supporting Ukraine with military equipment and supplies, including for a planned counter-offensive against Russian forces that has already run into delays.

In particular, Japan has insisted the “rule of the jungle” cannot be allowed to prevail – an apparent reference to fears that Russia’s actions could trigger similar moves in the South or East China seas and Taiwan Strait. The Japanese G7 presidency also pointed to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat of using nuclear weapons while pushing its agenda for nuclear disarmament.

“Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not tire in our commitment to mitigate the impact of Russia’s illegal actions on the rest of the world,” the G7 leaders said in a statement on Ukraine, while renewing their commitment to provide the financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support needed by Ukraine for “as long as it takes”.

In addition to the price cap imposed by G7 on Russian oil and petroleum products last year, the grouping said it would broaden sanctions on all items critical to Russia’s aggression and to starve Moscow of technology, industrial equipment and services.

The US unveiled new sanctions on more than 300 targets. The US treasury-imposed sanctions on 22 individuals and 104 entities, the country’s state department targeted almost 200 individuals, entities, vessels and aircraft, and the US department of commerce added 71 companies to its “Entity List”, which bars sales of US technology without a hard-to-obtain licence. The sanctions were expanded to sectors such as manufacturing and construction while other actions were aimed at countering Russia’s evasion of embargoes.

During his bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy at a special session on global peace and stability, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated India’s stance that dialogue and diplomacy alone can lead to a resolution of the Ukraine conflict, which he described as an issue of humanity and human values. Despite the push given by Zelenskyy to his peace formula, there was no clarity on how this will be taken forward, given Russia’s reluctance to engage, or whether India could play any role in this initiative.

A leaders’ communique issued after the G7 Summit said the group’s members will coordinate their approach towards economic resilience and security based on diversifying and deepening partnerships and “de-risking, not decoupling". They will also launch an initiative for resilient global food security with partners and mobilise $600 billion in financing for quality infrastructure through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment.

While Japan has strongly backed India’s efforts to make the concerns and issues of the Global South a central part of the G20 presidency, there has apparently not been similar enthusiasm for these efforts among other G7 members. Japanese officials have said one of the main outcomes they were eyeing from Modi’s participation in the outreach sessions in Hiroshima was greater synergy between the G7 and G20 processes.

There was, however, no specific mention in the leaders’ communique to the Global South though there were the usual references to the concerns of developing countries, such as funding climate transition, the setback in the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the need to reform multilateral development banks (MDBs) and development financial institutions (DFIs), including acceleration of their efforts to leverage private finance.

With India’s G20 presidency giving primacy to the concerns and issues of the developing countries and the focus of the G7 firmly on the Ukraine crisis, it remains to be seen how the world’s seven largest economies will be able to find common ground with the other members of the G20 at the summit to be hosted by India in September.