2027 summit offers opening for global AI safety agreements
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Vladimir Putin will not be invited to the G20 summit that the United Kingdom will host in Manchester in November 2027. Speaking to The Economist, Burnham answered no when asked whether the Russian president would be invited and said sanctions against the Kremlin were the reason.
Burnham made the reason more specific, saying Putin “will not be coming because of an outstanding sanction” on senior Russian figures. The United Kingdom has maintained a policy of no direct, bilateral engagement with Russian ministers since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The announcement came as US President Donald Trump had invited Putin to this year’s G20, which Trump will host in Miami in December. The US invitation drew controversy, and the Kremlin had not yet said whether Putin would attend.
Russia is a member of the G20, a group of 19 nations, the European Union and the African Union; Ukraine is not. The ongoing war in Ukraine has loomed large over recent summits. Putin has been absent from G20 summits since the war began and has not attended any major global summit since launching the invasion.
Burnham said the Manchester meeting would provide “a real opportunity” to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping on safety regulations for artificial intelligence.
Pressed on whether the United Kingdom could bring the United States and China to the same table to agree on global AI supervision, Burnham said: “As I sit here today, that feels challenging, but we’ve got to hold out the need to find global agreements on AI. If we don’t, the risks of recent times will magnify, they will significantly intensify. So you’ve got to go into it with that aim.”
Burnham’s decision came after European diplomats refused to stand for an official photo with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in October. The so-called “family photo” would usually include representatives from all nations in attendance, but it was cancelled.
The US decision to invite Lavrov came after further public rows between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. At the summit, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband later told Lavrov: “Let me say this directly to the Russian foreign minister: We all know who the aggressor in this war is.”
The United Kingdom last hosted the G20 summit in 2009. Next year’s two-day event will take place at the Manchester Central Convention Centre in Manchester city centre and host thousands of diplomats and delegates, as well as world leaders.
The government has said it will use its G20 presidency in 2027 to “reinforce global economic stability” and “benefit people in every part of the UK.”