Tusk describes anticipated G20 summit 'difficult'

OSAKA - 27 June 2019: President of the European Union Council Donald Tusk described on Thursday the G20 summit, set to kick off Friday in the Japanese city of Oska, as 'difficult', due to the mounting global challenges that should be addressed.

"This will be a difficult G20. There are global challenges to be met: the need to step up action to avoid the climate threat, avoid trade wars, reform the international trading system, and to prepare for the digital revolution," the website of the European Council quoted Tusk as saying during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"At the same time international tensions are growing, just to name the examples of Iran or the situation between the US and China," he said.

"As the fate of our planet is uncertain, the situation requires a special sense of responsibility. And this responsibility rests - to a large extent - with the G20 leaders who will gather here in Osaka," he added

Abe is set to receive, shortly, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El Sisi ahead of the anticipated G20 summit on Friday. Egypt is the current president of the African Union.