Sunday, June 07, 2015

obama in germany for G7 summit

David Cameron will urge fellow world leaders at the G7 to "wake up" to the risk of future disease pandemics, which could be more devastating than the Ebola outbreak.
The leaders of the world's richest countries are also expected to use the annual meeting to keep up diplomatic pressure on Russia over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Greece's debt crisis and how to tackle global warming will also be on the agenda, along with a proposed trade deal between the European Union and the United States.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi will also be on the sidelines of the summit to discuss his country's fight against Islamic State. The leaders are arriving at the Elmau palace in Bavaria, southern Germany, for the meeting hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. US President Barack Obama's Air Force One touched down in Munich in the early hours of Sunday.                                       "It is time to wake-up to that threat."
He is expected to say Britain is ready to "lead the way" and work with the World Health Organisation to try to harness better global research, more drug development, and a faster and more comprehensive approach to fighting disease outbreaks.
He will announce a British programme to focus on the most threatening diseases, a requirement for UK-funded vaccine research to be shared globally, and the creation of a rapid reaction unit.
The new UK rapid reaction unit will be made up of six to 10 expert epidemiologists and infection control specialists ready to deploy at short notice to help countries round the world understand disease outbreaks and judge what response is needed.
Mr Cameron made clear that he will also seek to use the G7 to maintain pressure on Russia over Ukraine.
The EU and US worked in concert to impose stiff sanctions on members of President Vladmir Putin's inner circle and key sectors of the Russian economy in the wake of last year's annexation of Crimea.
Russia was also ejected from the G8 group, resulting in this year' slimmed-down summit line-up of seven.
Mr Cameron will also call for political agreement by the end of 2015 on the proposed US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Speaking on the eve of the summit, Mr Cameron said: "The reality is that we will face an outbreak like Ebola again and that virus could be more aggressive and more difficult to contain.                               The EU's chief negotiator said in April that talks to clinch the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would stretch into 2016.
"We launched this at a G8 that was ours in Lough Erne in 2013," one British official told reporters.
"That was over 700 days ago, and the Prime Minister feels we should be making swifter progress."
The Prime Minister wanted a political deal by the year-end, the official said.
Mr Cameron has also urged the G7 to tackle the "cancer" of corruption, in the wake of the corruption scandal engulfing FIFA.
The Prime Minister is joined by Mrs Merkel, Mr Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Italian PM Matteo Renzi, Canadian PM Stephen Harper and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe for the two-day summit.
On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators packed Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a small Alpine town, to protest a wide range of causes.
The demonstration was largely peaceful, but a small group of black-clad protesters clashed with police as they marched through the town, charging at officers who responded with pepper spray.

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