PARIS, Aug 24 (KUNA) -- Leaders of seven of the world's most powerful countries (G7) began arriving Saturday to attend the annual summit meeting that is being hosted by the French G7 Presidency in the south-western resort city of Biarritz.
Official aircraft began shuttling into Bordeaux and other regional airports carrying Heads of State and Government from the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, Britain and Italy to be transported to Biarritz and welcomed by President Emmanuel Macon in mid-afternoon.
The G7 agenda may prove to be one of the most contentious and controversial in the forty-four-year history of the Group, which functions to settle global disputes and also to coordinate global economic, trade and policies.
But heading into this year's meeting, there are myriad disagreements and open disputes over world crises and how to deal with them and also on the management of the world economy and trade, the environment, digitalisation and taxation and a number of other key questions.
Ahead of the official opening of the meeting, which will run for three days into next Monday, Macron sought to calm tensions and opposition to the meeting by tens of thousands of demonstrators here.
He sought to outline the importance of the G7 and its discussions, but also to calm anti-capitalist demonstrations planned in tandem with the world leaders' meeting.
In several of the previous counter-G7 protests, massive violence and disruption has taken place and France has mobilised over 13,000 police and security services to handle any trouble in the region.
The French leader said that the meeting would have several chapters, foremost among them the numerous world crises that could affect global security and which will have an impact on all if not resolved.
He firstly cited the need to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue and settle the worsening dispute between the United States and Iran over the Iranian nuclear programme, which was halted in 2015 with the Vienna Accords signed by the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China (P5+1).
The agreement has been cast into doubt by US President Donald Trump's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the accords in May 2018 and re-impose punitive sanctions on Iran and its leadership.
Iran has retaliated by manufacturing more and higher-enriched uranium than allowed under the Vienna Agreement, producing more than the 300g ceiling imposed on it and also moving the enrichment level above the 3.67 percent limit it agreed to four years ago.
Macron has been actively working to try to save the nuclear pact with Iran and offset some of the severe economic impacts of the US sanctions, but the European 3 signatories have been too slow in responding to Iran's economic needs, according to Tehran.
He met Friday in Paris with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, only hours before the G7, to see if there is any way to move things forward in the impasse with the US.
The risk for Macron is that the Vienna Accord could fall apart if Iran continues to violate it and also refuses to discussion calls to restrict ballistic missile testing, illegal under UN resolutions, and also draw down the projection of its influence in the Arab Gulf region by supporting opposition groups and armed militias in the Gulf zone and beyond, notably in Syria, Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon and other countries.
Speaking in a live TV broadcast, the French President said that the G7 would have to tackle a series of world crises and that people expected that "all of us (G7) should be able to assure stability, security, protect peace in the world." He said the agenda will include "the major crises or the most-tense, major situations" globally.
Firstly, Macron cited Iran, followed by Syria, Libya, Ukraine and other crisis situations on the international scene.
"Sometimes on these subjects, we have disagreements," Macron remarked, saying that some of these subjects might seem far away for the general public, but he cautioned "they affect you on a daily basis." When "France was hit by terrorist attacks in 2015, they were prepared in Syria by jihadists," Macron pointed out. In a spate of terror attacks in France over a three-year period, 241 people were killed.
"If tomorrow, Iran gets a nuclear weapon, we will be directly concerned. If the Middle East goes up in flames, we will be directly affected," he added.
"If we can't fix the situation in Libya, we will continue to collectively suffer the scandal of immigration across the Mediterranean and the de-stabilisation of an entire area in Africa," the French President warned.
He said that on all these subjects we have to find "useful agreements" that will "defend peace, avoid escalations and come to agreement."
Macron, in his televised broadcast, said Saturday that world trade, economic volatility and the need to re-invigorate global economic growth would be the "second major challenge" for the G7 leaders over the coming three days.
"This here concerns you directly," he stated. "We have to work to get more growth, create more jobs and better well-being in our societies." He indicated that he had "two objectives" in the G7 talks: "Firstly, convince all our partners that tensions, in particular trade tensions, are bad for everyone." This position is directly opposed to the measures undertaken and those planned by President Trump, who has declared and already used trade tariffs and other economic measures against trading partners he accuses of unfair practices - in particular existing and announced tariffs on China and, and to a lesser extent, against Europe.
Trump has directly threatened French imports with tariffs after Macron agreed a three percent tax on major US internet companies, including Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, known as the GAFA group.
Macron called for a "de-escalation" that would "stabilise things and avoid this trade war which is establishing itself everywhere." He said that the seven economic power-houses meeting in Biarritz "must find the means to have a real growth re-boosting, which means to get a veritable re-start in growth." He pointed out that interest rates were very low everywhere, but this was not spurring growth like it should, particularly in Europe.
He said that another objective is to improve living standards and create better equality worldwide, including better gender equality.
The French leader said that he would push for "useful" policies and "concrete actions" at the three-day meeting.
"I also wanted to associate other countries like India, Australia, South Africa and Chile which are big democratic countries, not in the G7, but who are committed on these subjects with us," he explained.
Macron also promised "strong and new measures for Africa, which is at the heart of this G7, and is our closest neighbour." The French leader also promised the G7 would table "initiatives to make our economies fairer" and was including major companies and investors in this policy objective "so that the aim of big companies is not simply to make profits for the share-holders, but that they commit, themselves on a daily basis, for better equality, equality between men and women...and a better share out the value added" in these companies.
The G7 will also work on better protection for data in an increasingly digitalised world, he said.
Global warming and bio-diversity protection will also be a key topic but is also one of the most contentious with the United States, which has renounced its participation in efforts to stop global warming and has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Treaty of 2015.
There are strong divergences between the US and the other G7 countries on the impact of climate warming and the steps needed to counter this.
Macron recognised the differences on this issue, "in particular with the United States," but he emphasised that nature is telling us something must be done.
"We must listen to the call from the ocean...and the forest which is burning today in the Amazon," he urged, saying this must get a "very concrete" response.
He issued a stark warning for the pollution of the world's oceans, stressing that a proposal would be made to limit the speed of maritime traffic which is largely responsible for pollution in the seas.
"This is a real change," he said, adding that efforts would also be made by the textile industry worldwide to reduce waste. He declared that 30 percent of waste in the oceans comes from the textile industry and eight percent of carbon emissions come from the same source, and steps will be taken to address this problem at the G7 in Biarritz.
The textile industry causes more emissions than air travel and maritime transport, he asserted.
Macron indicated "France must do a maximum" for climate change and to protect biodiversity, "but we can't act alone" and he urged that "there are no fatalities yet, we can do things together." He issued a general "call for calm" for the Biarritz summit, noting "we have differences" on many subjects, "but we will not resolve things by acting alone." (end) jk