G7 leaders will take to the stage on Friday alongside leaders of non-Western countries including India, Brazil and Turkey, highlighting the changing global landscape on the second day of the summit.
Among the tough issues on the agenda will be immigration, which has contributed to a recent resurgence of populism and far-right parties in Europe and the U.S. The leaders will also discuss economic competition with China, security in the Indo-Pacific region and relations between the West and countries in the “Global South,” a region that includes much of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, host of the meeting, said the aim of expanding the guest list was to “strengthen dialogue with countries of the Global South”. He insisted that the G7 was “not a closed fortress” but an “open proposition of values ​​to the world”.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also stressed the importance of strengthening ties with partners across the group, particularly countries in the global south, as the world faces challenges such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas that threatens to spread to Lebanon.
Much of the attention will be on leaders like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, acknowledging that the West no longer dominates the world demographically or economically as it once did, and that they are heeding calls for a more fair and balanced response in key decisions.
Topics include economic security, Africa, the Southern Mediterranean and the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
How to manage migration has vexed the U.S. and Europe for years, driven in part by climate change and wars in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Ukraine. It's a particularly sensitive issue for Mr. Meloni, who has campaigned hard to combat what he calls “uncontrolled migration” from Africa and the Middle East into Italy and other parts of Europe.
While Europe has welcomed thousands of Ukrainians, particularly women and children, who have fled Russian aggression, Ukrainian authorities have urged European countries to help return men of fighting age.
But the day will be dominated by one-on-one meetings between leaders, including Pope Francis, who was invited by Meloni to attend. After his speech, the pope is scheduled to meet with Biden, Modi, Lula, Kenyan President William Ruto, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Biden is due to leave Italy in the afternoon, hours before delivering his final statement in the evening. The other leaders will wrap up the day with a concert and a private dinner. Further bilateral meetings and a closing news conference by the leaders are scheduled for Saturday.