Major industrialised nations close to agreement on tackling Amazon forest fires: Emmanuel Macron

World leaders gathered at the G7 summit are nearing an agreement on how to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest and try to repair the devastation, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.

"There's a real convergence to say: 'Let's all agree to help those countries hit by these fires," Al Jazeera quoted Macron as saying.

Macron added that the member counties of the G7 (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Canada) are finalising a possible deal on "technical and financial help" for the countries affected by the fires.

The rainforest has witnessed a record number of fires this year, and the issue has drawn international concern, owing to the major role played by the Amazon in the global environment. Macon had last week described the matter as an "international crisis" and pushed for it to be the top agenda at the G7 summit.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that her country and others will talk with Brazil about reforestation in the Amazon once the fires are extinguished.

"Of course [this is] Brazilian territory, but we have a question here of the rainforest that is really a global question," she said. "The lung of our whole Earth is affected, and so we must find common solutions."

Macron had earlier accused Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's government of not doing enough to protect the area and of lying about its environmental commitments. The statement did not go well with Bolsonaro, who accused the French president of taking advantage of what is a domestic issue.

(ANI)

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