G7 leaders back Hormuz reopening after Modi urges Global South support
The Évian G7 treated Global South vulnerability as part of the same supply-chain shock facing wealthy economies.
In 30 seconds
- The G7 leaders' statement says Egypt, Kenya and the Republic of Korea supported its growth declaration.
- The G7 leaders' statement calls free and safe Strait of Hormuz transit imperative for limiting supply-chain damage.
- Narendra Modi told the outreach session that vulnerable countries should not bear the West Asia crisis alone.
- The G7 leaders' statement asks the IMF and OECD to monitor how major-economy policies contribute to global imbalances.
How we got here
- 2003-06-01
Évian hosted a G8 summit that widened outreach to major emerging economies.
- 2019-08-24
France hosted the Biarritz G7, Macron's previous French G7 presidency.
- 2025-06-16
The previous G7 summit opened in Kananaskis, Canada, amid the earlier Iran crisis.
- 2026-06-11
The Global Convergence for Growth Summit took place before the G7, according to the G7 statement.
- 2026-06-15
The Évian G7 summit opened in France.
The G7 ( advanced economies, founded in the 1970s and including the EU at summit level) coordinates policy among Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. Évian-les-Bains (French spa town on ) hosted the 2026 summit on 15-17 June. ('s prime minister since 2014) attended as an outreach leader. The Global South (a political shorthand for many developing and emerging economies) is not a formal bloc. The (narrow waterway between and ) is central to oil, gas and fertiliser shipping. (French president and 2026 G7 host) chaired the summit. The (-based energy security body) sets the oil-stockholding benchmark cited by the G7. The and are the global institutions the G7 wants to use for imbalance surveillance and trade reform.
Background
Évian has a history as a stage for widening the G7 conversation: the there brought , India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa into an informal outreach format. The G20 then displaced the G7 as the main crisis forum after the 2008 financial crash. The G7 returned to prominence after Russia's 2014 exclusion from the G8 and again during the 2022 energy shock after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The French 2026 presidency revived the imbalance debate, while the G7 leaders' statement says the work will continue at the G20 under the United States host year.
The wider picture
The broader contest is about who writes the rules when shocks hit: the G7, the G20, China-facing trade blocs, or ad hoc crisis coalitions around energy and shipping lanes. Hormuz turns a regional conflict into a global inflation and food-security risk, while the Global South framing tests Western claims that its partnerships are not purely transactional.
Why now
The trigger is the 15-17 June 2026 G7 summit in Évian and its 17 June growth statement, issued as leaders tried to respond to West Asia disruption, Hormuz shipping concerns, fertiliser pressure and persistent global imbalances.
What to watch
Watch three signals: whether commercial traffic through Hormuz returns without new charges or security shocks, whether the IMF and OECD publish sharper imbalance monitoring, and whether the G20 under the United States host year turns G7 language into broader commitments.
What to do
Nothing changes overnight for Belgian readers. The practical takeaway is to monitor energy and food-price exposure rather than the summit communique alone: farmers, importers and SMEs should watch fertiliser, fuel and freight contracts, while EU-facing organisations should follow how Brussels translates G7 language into trade, reserves and development-finance policy.
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Voices & reactions
What the main actors are doing
Reported positions, summarised — not direct quotationsG7 leaders
The G7 leaders' statement argues that the priority is crisis containment: reopen the Strait of Hormuz, avoid arbitrary export restrictions, strengthen oil reserves and use the IMF, OECD and WTO to manage wider imbalances. In this frame, Global South concerns are best handled through market stability and international institutions, not a separate redistribution package.
India / Global South diplomacy
Narendra Modi's outreach message frames the same crisis as an equity problem: countries with less fiscal space should not be left to absorb higher fuel, fertiliser and food costs created by conflicts and decisions elsewhere. The argument is that G7 capital, Indian skills and local ownership in developing countries should be linked through connectivity, trade and finance partnerships.
Food-system researchers
The Kiparisov and Folberth paper supports a structural reading: shocks in gas, fertilisers and crops cascade because the food system is tightly coupled and concentrated upstream. From this perspective, the G7's reserve and supply-chain language is relevant but incomplete unless it reduces dependency in the inputs that determine food availability.
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This story was assembled from verified evidence, with its sources and reasoning recorded as it was written.