This week, the Prime Minister welcomes world leaders to Cornwall for this year’s G7 summit.
G7 proceedings have already got off to a promising start. G7 finance ministers, led by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, struck a major agreement on global tax reform that will mean the largest multinational tech giants will pay their fair share of tax in the countries in which they operate.
As part of this deal, finance ministers also agreed to the principle of a global minimum rate that ensures multinationals pay tax of at least 15% in each country they operate.
Ensuring markets play their part in the transition to net zero, the group also followed the UK’s lead by giving a commitment to make it mandatory for firms to report the climate impact of their investment decisions – and concrete steps to crack down on environmental criminals.
This agreement is testament to the UK’s leadership in this area and I pay tribute to the Chancellor for securing collective leadership from G7 nations at this crucial time in our global economic recovery.
Continuing the theme of the UK’s global leadership, the Prime Minister will call on his fellow world leaders to commit to efforts to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022. Getting people vaccinated isn’t just a challenge for this country, but for every corner of our planet.
It’s why we should be particularly proud that the UK is one of the world’s biggest donors to the Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, and Covax, a World Health Organisation scheme working for global equitable access to Covid vaccines.
What’s more, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is more proof of our leadership on Covid. Developed thanks to partnership between our academic sector, pharmaceutical industry and money from the Government, AstraZeneca has risen to the challenge of creating a not-for-profit vaccine that is widely available around the world and accounts for 98% of all supplies to Covax.
These are real life examples of the UK’s global leadership – using our resources, scientific expertise and diplomatic leverage to strengthen global health for the benefit of us all.