US President Joe Biden met Sunday with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany ahead of the G7 Leaders’ Summit.
President Biden expressed appreciation for the Chancellor’s leadership of the G7, and the importance of coordinating responses to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine, climate, and economic and democratic resilience.
The leaders underlined their commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as their continued provision of military, economic, humanitarian, and diplomatic support to help Ukraine defend its democracy against Russian aggression.
“We have to stay together,” Biden told Scholz at a meeting ahead of the G7 summit in the German Alps.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had been hoping “that somehow NATO and the G7 would splinter,” Biden said. “But we haven’t and we’re not going to.”
Biden met his German host in the picturesque Elmau Castle where the G7 — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — was holding a three-day summit dominated by the crisis in Ukraine.
Biden praised Scholz’s leadership as current chair of the G7 at a time of upheaval in Europe triggered by Russia’s war and subsequent global economic fallout.
“I want to compliment you for stepping up as you did when you became chancellor” and “the way you had a great impact on the rest of Europe to move, particularly relating to Ukraine,” Biden told Scholz.
The 79-year-old Democrat also fondly recalled his skiing days, telling Scholz that the Alpine setting was “beautiful.”
Finally, the leaders also discussed the challenges posed by China and our shared commitment to provide transparent and high-standard solutions to address global gaps in key infrastructure.
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