Over the weekend, the northern German port city of Hamburg became the stage for the G20 summit – a gathering of the world’s 19 most powerful economies and the European Union. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is hosting the summit, opened the summit by reminding G20 leaders that they are responsible for millions of people around the globe and as such all of them must find a compromise to find solution to global problems. The summit was accompanied by major protests that saw around 100,000 taking part in demonstrations against the G20.
The agenda of the G20 summit included fight against terrorism, global economy, international trade and climate but on top of these issues the world’s leaders also discussed China’s steel overcapacity and North Korea. The 300 million tons of steel that is produced by China is of a major concern for European countries and for the United States and thus a greater willingness of China’s leadership to address this overcapacity could persuade US President Donald Trump to ease his stance on trade protectionism and climate.
North Korea was put on top of the agenda just before the summit following its successful launching of a long-range missile that could potentially reach the United States. A response to the threatening moves of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was also among the main concerns during the bilateral talks between Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin – their first face-to-face meeting.
The Russian President hailed a fresh start in US-Russia relations and said that the meeting had set the scene for a new era of closer cooperation between Washington and Moscow. “If we can build a relationship along the lines of our conversation yesterday, then there is every reason to believe we can restore, at least to a certain degree, the level of co-operation we need,” President Putin said after the conclusion of the summit.
