Prime Minister Mark Carney wrapped up his first G7 Summit on Tuesday.
The Group of Seven leaders, and other world leaders, spent June 15 to 17 in Kananaskis, Alta. for the annual summit. It was Carney's first G7 Summit since becoming prime minister and his first playing host to the other member countries.
The G7 is made up of seven member countries – Canada, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Italy – and the European Union. The member countries meet each year at a summit to discuss global economic and geopolitical issues. It's organized through a presidency that rotates annually. The country assuming the G7 presidency is responsible for hosting and organizing the summit, along with meetings between ministers and senior officials before the summit.
Carney said that Canada's presidency showed "that we're ready to create new international partnerships, deepen alliances and lead member nations into a new era of global co-operation."
"Canada has the resources the world wants and the values to which others aspire. Canada is meeting this moment with purpose and strength.”
Through the summit, the federal government also announced it would be taking action to build stronger economies and international systems, including: $391.3 million to catalyze private capital toward economic growth and development projects around the world; up to $185.6 million to accelerate the adoption and commercialization of artificial intelligence; $120.4 million to global wildfire prevention, response, and recovery.
$80.3 million to build reliable critical minerals supply chains; $22.5 million to accelerate the development and use of quantum technologies; and up to $544 million in guarantees for new development financing in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The prime minister also met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He shared with Zelenskyy that Canada has a series of new measures to support Ukraine, which included: sanctions on individuals, entities and vessels that continue to support Russia’s aggression in Ukraine; an additional $2 billion in military assistance this year; the disbursement of a $2.3 billion-loan to Ukraine through the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans mechanism; and the allocation of $57.4 million in security-related assistance.
The final day was slightly overshadowed by the news of United States President Donald Trump leaving the summit early on Monday evening (June 16) as tensions escalated between Iran and Israel. The leaders issued a statement Tuesday, condemning Iran and affirming Israel's right to defend itself.
"In this context, we affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel. We also affirm the importance of the protection of civilians. Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror. We have been consistently clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon," the statement read.
