G7 financial leaders are looking for a common position on Russian assets and China
Kyiv • UNN
G7 financial leaders will discuss the use of frozen Russian assets worth 3 300 billion to provide Ukraine with a loan of up to.50 billion and discuss concerns about China's growing export power in key markets.
At a meeting of G7 finance leaders in Italy this week, an attempt will be made to explain how to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine's war effort and how to deal with China's growing export power in key markets, officials said, UNN writes, citing Reuters.
Details
Finance ministers and central bank executives from the group of seven countries will meet in the northern Italian coastal city of Stresa on Friday and Saturday.
G7 negotiators have been debating for weeks how best to use Russian financial assets worth about.300 billion, which were frozen shortly after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The United States is seeking to find a way to increase future returns on these assets either by issuing bonds or, more likely, by providing Ukraine with a loan that they say could provide it with up to.50 billion in the near future.
However, the publication points out that many legal and technical aspects need to be worked out, "which means that a detailed agreement is not expected in Stresa," several officials said.
In this case, informal negotiations will continue with the aim of submitting a proposal by the head of government of the group of seven countries, which will meet in Apulia, southern Italy, on June 13-15.
"The idea of issuing G7 bonds for Ukraine seems to have lost its relevance, as the United States is now offering a loan supported by a stream of income from frozen assets," the publication says.
Who will administer the loan - the World Bank or some other body - how it will be guaranteed, how future profits can be estimated, and what will happen in the event of a peace agreement with Russia-all this remains to be clarified.
European officials are being particularly cautious: one EU diplomat said it would take "weeks, if not months"to make a final decision.
Italy holds the G7 presidency this year, and its economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said last week that U.S. proposals to use Russian assets have "pretty serious legal implications" that still need clarification.
Japanese Finance Minister Sunichi Suzuki also stressed that any agreement must comply with international law.
The outlook for global trade will be another central theme in Stresa after the United States last week announced a sharp increase in tariffs on a number of Chinese imported goods, including electric vehicle batteries, computer chips and medical products.
Georgetti said after the US move that a "trade war" was underway, reflecting geopolitical tensions, and warned of the risk of "fragmentation" of global trade.
The United States is not calling on its partners to take similar action against China, but one official said they would likely insist on a G7 communique expressing general concern about what they call Beijing's industrial "overcapacity.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in Frankfurt on Tuesday that the United States and Europe need to counter the threat from Chinese imports in a "strategic and collaborative way" to preserve the viability of producers on both sides of the Atlantic and promote their domestic clean energy industries.
Other topics that will be discussed in Stresa, according to the official program, will include the impact of artificial intelligence on the global economy and "summing up the results" of sanctions against Russia. Taxation will also be on the agenda: Italy is trying to revive the global minimum tax agreement on multinational corporations, which was signed by about 140 countries in 2021 but was not fully implemented due to opposition in the US and other countries.
