G7 must uphold multilateralism, not elitism

The G7 Summit to be held at Carbis Bay, Cornwall, on the southwest coast of Britain from Friday to Sunday has attracted special attention because it will be the first in-person international gathering since before the pandemic and its theme will be uniting "leading democracies to help the world fight, and then build back better from coronavirus and create a greener, more prosperous future".

G7 summits normally help better coordinate the member states' policies and address the differences among the seven most industrialized countries. And since the G7 members are the world's most advanced economies, its decisions have a big impact on global economic and political governance.

However, given the fast-changing global landscape and the complex global problems, the G7 has been facing criticism that, as an elite group, it has no right to set an agenda that can have negative impacts on other countries. In 2018, Jim O'Neill and Alessio Terzi, of European think tank Bruegel, wrote:"The G7 in its current formulation, no longer has a reason to exist, and it should be replaced with a more representative group of countries."