In the wake of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, Boris Johnson’s UK government claimed that the nation was at the forefront of the global green technology and investment race.

Charles Dickens, perhaps the greatest British novelist of the Victorian era, memorably started his novel “A Tale of Two Cities” with the phrase: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

French-UK relations were often in the “deep freeze” during the prime ministerships of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, yet this Friday (March 10) will see the first bilateral summit between London and Paris for five years.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week struck a deal with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol. Yet, even if the agreement is approved by legislators, it will not end the state of flux that has dogged the UK since 2016, which has been called “Brexiternity.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has undertaken a wide-ranging itinerary of foreign travel in recent weeks, including official trips to Latin America and Asia. But his most important foreign trip as leader so far comes on March 3, when he will meet US President Joe Biden at the White House.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has high hopes for this year’s G20 summit, even though it takes place amid the most unpredictable global landscape in decades.

One year into the Ukraine conflict, hostilities show no obvious sign of ending any time soon. However, the issue of postwar reconstruction is climbing up the political ladder in the West, including in multilateral institutions like the G7.