Global

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have committed to nuclear arms control and reaffirmed that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. The leaders' first in-person meeting since Biden became president took place at a lakeside villa in Geneva on Wednesday, 16 June.

US president Joe Biden on Tuesday (15 June) visited the European institutions in Brussels for meetings with European Council president, Charles Michel, and European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.

The leaders of NATO countries, representing thirty member states in Europe and North America, have identified China as a “systematic challenge” and promised to work together to address this. NATO leaders reaffirmed the Alliance’s dual-track approach of defence and dialogue towards Russia. They also pledged to continue to support NATO partners Ukraine and Georgia, bringing them closer to the Alliance.

With the geopolitical focus shifting towards the Indo-Pacific region and China's growing assertiveness, Indo-European relations become increasingly important. In this op-ed for commonspace.eu, Alex Petrosyan looks at how the EU and India are taking their co-operation to a higher level with the Connectivity Partnership launched in May, and why even closer relations are necessary.

"We look forward to working alongside our G20 partners and with all relevant International Organisations to secure a cleaner, greener, freer, fairer and safer future for our people and planet". This was stated by the leaders of the G7 countries when they ended their meeting in Cornwall in England on Sunday (13 June).

G7 leaders met in Cornwall, in the South of England on Friday (11 June) to discuss the main issues of our time.  They are later today expected to commit to using all their resources in an effort to ensure the devastation caused by a pandemic like Covid-19 is never repeated in a declaration that sets out a series of measures intended to achieve this.

The special relationship between the US and the UK was reaffirmed today at a meeting of US President Joe Biden and the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, ahead of the G7 summit starting Friday in Cornwall. After the talks Johnson said there is “so much” the US presidential team want to do together with the UK, including security, NATO and climate change.