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- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson seen correcting US President Joe Biden at this weekend’s G7 summit.
- Biden wrongly suggested Johnson hadn’t introduced South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.
- The UK Prime Minister appeared to twice wave away the president’s interruptions.
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was seen correcting US President Joe Biden at this weekend’s G7 Summit in Cornwall, England, after the president interrupted him to wrongly suggest that Johnson had failed to introduce South Africa’s president at a roundtable of world leaders.
-E N Brown (@SuperEB) June 14, 2021
Johnson appeared to twice wave away Biden’s interruptions on Saturday, while he was hosting a roundtable of world leaders at the G7 summit.
The UK prime minister welcomed India’s prime minister Narendra Modi via video-link and then introduced South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, who joined the leaders of the G7 grouping, which comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
“And the president of South Africa,” Biden added to Johnson.
“And the president of South Africa, as I said earlier on,” Johnson replied.
“Oh, you did,” Biden said.
“I did, I certainly did,” Johnson said.
It was not clear from footage of the incident whether Biden had not heard Johnson introduced President Ramaphosa or whether he was unaware of his name and therefore had not realized that Johnson had already introduced him.
World leaders agreed at the summit – the major first in-person meeting of the G7 since the coronavirus pandemic – to donate one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries over the next 12 months.
They also agreed to take more action on climate change and renewed a pledge to raise $100 billion a year to help poor countries cut carbon emissions.
However, some charities and campaign groups said the commitments were vague in their wording did not go far enough.
“Never in the history of the G7 has there been a bigger gap between their actions and the needs of the world,” said Oxfam’s head of inequality policy Max Lawson in a statement cited by the Guardian.
“We don’t need to wait for history to judge this summit a colossal failure, it is plain for all to see.”