G7 Foreign Ministerial Talks to Focus on Engagement with Emerging

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, April 15, 2023

Economic security and engagement with emerging nations will be key agenda items when the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven advanced nations meet in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, according to government sources.

During the talks, to be held from Sunday to Tuesday, the G7 foreign ministers also plan to separately address the Indo-Pacific region as a priority issue, as well as Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, the sources said.

With China and Russia in mind, the ministers are expected to discuss their response to acts of economic coercion — such as when a country imposes trade restrictions on rival nations, for example — and affirm the importance of strengthening supply chains among like-minded countries.

In the joint document issued following the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting held in Germany last May, the G7 countries included an intention to strengthen cooperation on economic security — the first time for a joint statement to mention such a stance. During the upcoming meeting, economic security will be high on the agenda to allow the foreign ministers to deepen discussions toward the G7 summit to be held in Hiroshima next month.

Many emerging and developing countries in the so-called Global South are close to Russia. In light of this, the G7 member nations intend to consider taking concerted action to cooperate with such countries, which have struggled to secure food and energy due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the aim of drawing them over to the G7 side.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi stressed the commitment to stand by such countries, saying “The aggression has greatly affected the lives of people around the world, including those in the Global South.”

The foreign ministers plan to intensively discuss the regional situation in the Indo-Pacific and Ukraine, again, with an eye on China and Russia, which have attempted to unilaterally change the status quo by force.

On the Indo-Pacific issue, the foreign ministers are expected to stress the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and confirm their intention to work together in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development, according to the sources.