The G7 sous-sherpas held their first meeting in Paris on 25 and 26 March 2019.
The sous-sherpas are responsible for supporting the sherpas in the negotiation process leading up to the Biarritz Summit and meet at regular intervals throughout the year. Their role is to hold further discussions on the key themes of the G7 Presidency. They pay particular attention to overarching issues, including the various aspects of development, climate and the environment, as well as gender equality.
After the first meeting in Lyon, the sous-sherpas prepared the key information for the next sherpa meeting which will be held in Lille on 17 and 18 April. Their working sessions focused on France’s priorities for this G7: gender equality, the pillars of a renewed partnership with Africa, and digital technology and artificial intelligence.
One of the goals of the French G7 Presidency is to make the G7 process a more participatory process. With this in mind, the sherpas held discussions with the representatives of the Civil 7 and Women 7 during the Lyon meetings. The French sherpa and sous-sherpas continued the work to open the process up to civil society with meetings with members of Science 7, the group for G7 academies of science. During the meeting, the scientists presented a set of recommendations for G7 Heads of State and Government centred around 3 topical issues: trust in science, citizen science in the Internet age and the issues and consequences of artificial intelligence for our societies.