Leaders of the G7 pose during a group photo at the G7 meeting at the Carbis Bay Hotel
(Picture: AP)Boris Johnson has suggested the G7 should support a more “feminine” economic recovery.
The Prime Minister said the citizens of G7 nations “want us to be sure that we are beating the pandemic together and discussing how we will never have a repeat of what we have seen”.
“But also that we are building back better together and building back greener and building back fairer and building back more equal and… in a more gender neutral and perhaps a more feminine way.”
He was speaking as he welcomed world leaders including Joe Biden, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to the first round-table session of the summit in Cornwall.
Opening the summit, the Prime Minister said the G7 economies had the potential to “bounce back very strongly” from the crisis.
He added: “But it is vital that we don’t repeat the mistake of the last great crisis, the last great economic recession of 2008 when the recovery was not uniform across all parts of society.”
There was a risk the pandemic could leave a “lasting scar” as “inequalities may be entrenched”, Mr Johnson said.
“We need to make sure that as we recover, we level up across our societies and we build back better,” he added.
He added: “We need to make sure that we learn the lessons from the pandemic, we need to make sure that we don’t repeat some of the errors that we doubtless made in the course of the last 18 months or so.”
Mr Johnson has held talks Italian counterpart Mario Draghi, as well as Canada’s Justin Trudeau, ahead of the round-table this afternoon.
He spoke to both of them about the global rollout of coronavirus vaccines, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
Referencing the meeting with Mr Trudeau, the spokesperson added: ““They discussed their countries’ respective efforts to roll out a coronavirus vaccination programme and defeat the pandemic.
“They agreed to continue working closely together to share insights and information.
“The Prime Minister noted the remarkable alignment between the UK’s and Canada’s foreign policy goals, including our shared work to increase girls’ education, defend media freedom, tackle climate change and protect human rights around the world.”
