G7 leaders vow to tackle migrant smuggling and foreign interference
BANFF, ALTA. — The leaders of the world's seven wealthiest democracies ended their annual summit Tuesday with promises to tackle six pressing policy issues, including artificial intelligence, transnational repression and migrant smuggling.
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As the two-day summit in Kananaskis, Alta., came to a close, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S. and the U.K. issued six joint statements tackling wildfires, quantum and critical minerals as well as the three aforementioned issues.
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Absent from the list was a joint statement from all leaders on the war in Ukraine, despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's attendance at the summit Tuesday.
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Member countries agreed to accelerate their AI readiness and competitiveness and lower barriers to adoption in the private and public sector.
Transnational repression (TNR), a form of foreign interference, and illegal migration, which has become an issue of critical importance for many of the G7 member nations, are major issues in Canada.
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Member states issued a joint statement committing to further combat TNR, a particularly virulent form of foreign interference that uses coercion and threats to silence dissidents and quiet critics.
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The Canadian government has been seized with the issue of foreign interference, particularly in the case of Chinese interference in elections and India, which is alleged to have carried out an assassination on Canadian soil.
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'(Transnational repression) undermines national security, state sovereignty, the safety and human rights of victims, and principles of international law. It has a chilling effect in our countries,' reads the statement.
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