Queen will meet President Joe Biden during UK visit for G7 summit next week

The Queen will meet US President Joe Biden when he visits the UK later this month for the G7 summit.

Buckingham Palace confirmed that the head of state will welcome the American leader and First Lady, Jill Biden, to Windsor Castle on Sunday 13 June.

What is the G7 summit?

The G7 summit is an annual event which brings together leaders from the world's seven largest so-called advanced economies, namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The summit is used to discuss some of the biggest issues faced by these countries, with climate change and coronavirus set for this year's agenda.

Mr Biden is due to attend the G7 gathering in Cornwall, which will be held in Carbis Bay between 11 and 13 June.

The Queen met Mr Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump when he made a state visit to the UK in June 2019, in the last days of Theresa May’s premiership.

Since taking up his post in the Oval Office, Mr Biden has had limited opportunities to travel outside of the US due to the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning the G7 gathering will be his first foreign engagement in person.

Buckingham Palace said in a short statement: “The Queen will meet the President of the United States of America and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle on Sunday, 13th June 2021.”

What will be discussed?

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that ministers attending the G7 health summit will discuss how to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, and will address the “worldwide pandemic of misinformation”.

Mr Hancock said that ministers would be launching a global vaccination confidence campaign.

He told the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit: “We’ve made the argument that the jab is our way out of these restrictions, and everyone has a part to play.

“We don’t give anti-vaxxers the oxygen of publicity.

“Instead, we built a counter-narrative – scientifically rigorous, yet harnessing the really human emotions of joy and of community spirit that the vaccination programme can bring, and that positive tone has led to this spectacularly high take-up that we’ve seen.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson also hopes to use the meeting to “intensify cooperation between the world’s democratic and technologically advanced nations.”

The UK Presidency of the G7 has set out the following Policy Priorities:

- leading the global recovery from coronavirus while strengthening our resilience against future pandemics

- promoting our future prosperity by championing free and fair trade

- tackling climate change and preserving the planet’s biodiversity

- championing our shared values

We want to hear from you: let us know what you think about this story and be part of the debate in our comments section below

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.