Mayor Bill Peduto Says Pittsburgh Is Prepared For Upcoming G7 Ministers' Meeting
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- World leaders will gather in Pittsburgh later this month for the G7 Ministers' Meeting.
Foreign ministers from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada will be attending from March 24 to March 25 at the Omni William Penn.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approached Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in November, looking for a "mid-sized city" that could handle the scale of this event.
He added that both city and county police are always training for big events like this so they are ready.
The last time Pittsburgh hosted a similar event was the G20 Summit back in 2009.
"Costs are minimal," Peduto said. "We're not looking at anything like we did during G20."
Federal and state agencies reimbursed the city for those costs, but it was a process.
The city wants to stick to its budget for the G7 meeting.
"We have been in contact with the State Department, if anything should be a cost overrun beyond our regular budget for next year, to work with us to be able to be reimbursed," Peduto said.
Mayor Peduto said this meeting won't shut down the entire city.
"There will be traffic impacts ... We will create an area, a safety perimeter, around the hotel," Peduto said.
He also believes the summit will bring another first to the city.
"This will be foreign affairs ministers from nations around the world," Peduto said. "It will be an opportunity to highlight everything that we've been doing in Pittsburgh, and it will be one of the first time world leaders will be able to gather to discuss coronavirus"
Pittsburgh International Airport said the leaders won't be screened for the coronavirus at the airport because they'll have already undergone screening when they fly into the country.
