Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks set to engineer the first presidential encounter between Argentina’s Javier Milei and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the Group of Seven summit next month, while the Pope is also due to attend for the first time.The leaders of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine are also confirmed on a potentially volatile cast list at the resort town of Apulia in southern Italy as Meloni looks to solidify her credentials as a stateswoman who can bring other powerbrokers together. India’s Narendra Modi and Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa also plan on being there, while Saudi Arabia is still to firm up its plans.
With the US and its allies under pressure and the global order in flux, the G-7 leaders are due to discuss support for Ukraine, conflict between Israel and Hamas, competition with China and artificial intelligence. They are already converging on a plan to use frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv’s war effort.
