German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not be attending the G7 summit in Washington because of the dreaded coronavirus pandemic, the German Press Agency reported Saturday, quoting government spokesperson, Steffen Seibert.
United States President Donald Trump had said on May 20 that he was aiming for a real G7 summit in Washington in late June as a sign of normalisation after the outbreak of the pandemic.
Recall that the G7 summit was originally scheduled for June 10-12 at the presidential retreat of Camp David, Maryland. But following the outbreak of the pandemic, the United States government cancelled the programme and proceeded to hold a video conferencing in its place.
Recall also that Merkel had initially left her options open whether she would accept Trump’s invitation to participate in a video conference or not.
“In whatever form this meeting takes place, whether as a video conference or otherwise, I will definitely fight for multilateralism.That is very clear, both in the G7 and the G20,’’ the German chancellor had said in May.
(Xinhua/NAN)
