The Road to Charlevoix: What to expect from Canada’s G7 presidency
Ahead of next year’s summit in Quebec, Trudeau’s G7 sherpa, Peter Boehm, lays out Canada’s progressive agenda, which will include a focus on gender equality and climate change.
Next year, Canada will host its sixth Group of Seven (G7) summit, to be held on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. From June 8 to 9, the leaders of the world’s most advanced economies — the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada, in addition to representatives from the European Union — will meet as they do every year to discuss and attempt to build consensus around today’s most challenging global issues.
Despite the hefty price tags, the annual summits are valued by prime ministers and presidents as an opportunity for frank and open discussion behind closed doors.
While Canada technically assumes its year-long presidency on January 1, 2018 — from Italy, last year’s chair — the Trudeau government is already in full-on planning mode, and has secured agreement from other G7 countries on an agenda that will feature four broad areas of focus: investing in inclusive growth, advancing gender equality, addressing climate change and strengthening peace and security. (A fifth, around jobs of the future, was named on December 14.)
The man at the helm of Canada’s strategy is Peter Boehm, deputy minister for the G7 summit (formerly Canada’s ambassador to Germany and a career foreign service officer). As Justin Trudeau’s personal representative — or his “sherpa” — Boehm reports directly to the prime minister, and is in regular contact with his other G7 counterparts.
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