Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is travelling to Italy on June 12 to attend the annual Group of Seven (G7) leaders’ summit.
Mr. Trudeau will also participate in the Ukraine Peace Summit on June 15 and June 16 before returning to Ottawa.
The G7 consists of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. Leaders of the seven nations meet annually to collaborate on shared goals.
Additionally, the president of the European Council and the president of the European Commission, representing the European Union, will attend. Representatives from various states and international organizations, invited by the host nation, Italy, will also participate in the sessions.
This year’s discussions will focus on six themes: Africa, climate change and development, the Middle East, Ukraine, migration, the Indo-Pacific, and economic security.
Among Canada’s top priorities at the summit will be the clean energy transition, fighting misinformation and foreign interference, and advancing artificial intelligence. Mr. Trudeau is expected to hold bilateral meetings with other world leaders.
Canada is scheduled to host the G7 summit next year.
As this year’s host country, Italy is focusing the summit on defending the “rules-based international system.”
“Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine has undermined its principles and triggered growing instability, with multiple crises unfolding worldwide,” Italy said on its G7 website. It added that equal importance will be given to the conflict in the Middle East and its consequences for the world.
One of the most anticipated outcomes of the summit may be a decision on using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. Last month, G7 finance ministers announced progress toward agreeing on a U.S. proposal to allocate more funds for Ukraine from Russian assets frozen in their countries.
The G7 summit will be followed by the Ukraine Peace Summit hosted by Switzerland.
Switzerland’s president Viola Amherd said June 10 that nearly 90 countries and organizations, half of them from Europe, have confirmed their attendance.
Russia will not attend the summit, which was organized at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
