LONDON • Wealthy Group of Seven (G-7) powers on Friday ramped up health funding for poorer nations after accusations they are hoarding Covid-19 vaccines.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, this year's chair of the G-7, vowed to free up any surplus United Kingdom vaccines for poorer countries at a future date, and underlined the need for collective action to recover from the pandemic.
"We've got to make sure the whole world is vaccinated because this is a global pandemic and it's no use one country being far ahead of another, we've got to move together," he said in opening remarks at the online summit, the G-7's first since last April when the group was rent apart by then US leader Donald Trump.
At the summit, US President Joe Biden pledged US$4 billion (S$5.3 billion) in American aid to the United Nations' Covax fund to buy vaccines for global distribution.
Germany said it was giving an extra €1.5 billion (S$2.4 billion) for the global roll-out, and the European Union doubled its own Covax funding to €1 billion. The G-7 commitments totalled €7.5 billion (S$12 billion), the group said in a joint statement following the talks.
"Drawing on our strengths and values as democratic, open economies and societies, we will work together and with others to make 2021 a turning point for multilateralism and to shape a recovery that promotes the health and prosperity of our people and planet," the leaders added.
But ahead of the gathering, French President Emmanuel Macron had demanded richer nations go further by transferring 3 per cent to 5 per cent of their existing vaccine stock to Africa.
"It's an unprecedented acceleration of global inequality and it's politically unsustainable too because it's paving the way for a war of influence over vaccines," he told the Financial Times, as Russia and China step up free or low-cost distribution of their own jabs.
The ONE Campaign, a global organisation co-founded by U2 singer Bono, said the G-7 members plus Australia had collectively bought nearly 1.25 billion more doses than they needed to inoculate every member of their populations against Covid-19.
Later on Friday, Mr Biden, Mr Johnson and EU leaders in the G-7 joined another gathering online, the annual Munich Security Conference, to discuss "renewing transatlantic cooperation".
Mr Biden became the first United States president to address the Munich meeting, underlining a decisive shift after cooperation was all but broken under his go-it-alone predecessor.
The struggle worldwide between democracy and autocracy is at an "inflection point", Mr Biden told the Munich conference. "And I believe with every ounce of my being that democracy must prevail."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed President Biden's arrival on the stage. "Multilateralism is boosted through the change in the US government - the Biden administration has already demonstrated this with its first decisions" on returning to the Paris climate accord and rejoining the World Health Organisation (WHO), she said.
Though Friday marked America's formal re-entry to the Paris climate accord, in a departure from Trump-era politics, Mr Biden has maintained his predecessor's mistrust of China.
Beijing is not part of the G-7 - which comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US - and Washington is repositioning rich democracies as a counterweight amid mistrust of China's initial handling of Covid-19.
Mr Biden urged a collective pushback against China's "economic abuses", and also accused Russia of attacking democracies.
At Britain's urging, the G-7 agreed to look into a possible pandemic treaty to enhance early warning and data transparency in case of future outbreaks.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
