U.S. President Joe Biden will hold his first event with other leaders from the G7 nations in a virtual meeting on February 16 to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, the world economy and dealing with China, the White House said.
The meeting is the first by top leaders from the G7 group of rich democracies since April, it said.
"This virtual engagement with leaders of the world’s leading democratic market economies will provide an opportunity for President Biden to discuss plans to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, and rebuild the global economy," the White House said in a statement.
The White House said Biden would focus his remarks on a global response to COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution as well as "continued efforts to mobilize and cooperate against the threat of emerging infectious diseases by building country capacity and establishing health security financing."
“President Biden will also discuss the need to make investments to strengthen our collective competitiveness and the importance of updating global rules to tackle economic challenges such as those posed by China,” the White House said.
The White House said he would discuss his economic agenda with G7 counterparts and encourage them and all industrialized countries to maintain “economic support for the recovery” and other collective measures.
Climate change would also be on the agenda, Reuters reported.
