G-7 can help turn the tide on Covid-19

US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo is convening the first virtual meeting of G-7 foreign ministers on Tuesday and Wednesday, amid the mounting novel coronavirus pandemic. While the G-7 may appear to be a body that is ill-suited to tackling the health crisis emergency, it has always been at its best reacting to the big issues of the moment.

Indeed, the very fact that it was founded in 1975 in the aftermath of geopolitical and economic shocks - when Washington had pulled out of the Gold Standard - underlines that it was designed for turbulent times like these. At the time, then-president Richard Nixon had resigned and there was a clear and imminent danger of currency wars. The G-7 proved fit for its purpose, playing a key role in the management of the most important exchange rates. It also brought Japan into the Western policymaking community. We need a similar far-sighted approach today.

Another example of the G-7's capacity for action was shown when it played an important role in convincing the Russians to pull out the remnants of the Red Army from the Baltic States in the 1990s, even though this issue was not on the formal schedule of discussion that year. This action was just one part of the lynchpin function that the body played in 70s and 80s, helping to coordinate Western strategy towards the then Soviet Union. Moreover, following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the G-7 also assumed a key role in the initial phase of the US-led "war on terror", in areas such as cutting off access to international financing for Al-Qaeda and other jihadi groups.