Carbis Bay Declaration - G7 Summit Why in news. The G-7 summit recently took place in the U.K., and the leaders jointly signed theCarbis Bay Declaration. What are the highlights? Vaccine - The G7 pledged over the next 12 months to secure a further one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses. This will be either through donating surplus supplies or providing further finance to Covax. [Covax is the UN-backed scheme charged with distributing vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.] The G7 also committed to invest $12 trillion in the combined pandemic recovery plan. It also pledged to reinforce global surveillance for potentially dangerous diseases. Economy - The joint statement set out plans to reduce roadblocks to production in Africa. On the controversial issue of enforced temporary waivers of patents, it said the leaders will support manufacturing in low income countries. They would engage constructively on the issue of intellectual property waivers in discussions at the WTO. The G7 also agreed to increase the special drawing rights (SDRs) in IMF of low-income countries by $100bn. What was the U.S.'s role? United States‘s new President Biden vowed that ―America is back‖ to take the lead on global challenges. The G-7 commitments on vaccines and pandemic recovery depends on U.S. commitments for a large part. There was an invitation by the G7 to ―fellow democracies‖ India, Australia, South Korea and South Africa. There was also special communiqué on ―Open Societies‖ for the G-7 outreach. These are an extension of Biden's stated commitment to convening a Democracy Summit soon. What is G7's stance on China? Consensus amongst the seven-member countries on countering China was an important message from the meet. The final G-7 communiqué holds no less than four direct references to China, each negative. It includes criticising Beijing for its -
