The three-day 49th summit of the world’s richest countries’ leaders Group of Seven convened the meeting from Friday May 19 in the western city of Japan– Hiroshima.
Founded in 1975, the Group of Seven is an international forum held annually for the leaders of the seven of the world’s advanced economies– Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as joined by the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission as a guest.
The leaders of G7—the rich countries’ club– U.S. President Joe Biden, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Council Charles Michel, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France’s President Emmanuel Macron are in Hiroshima city –west Japan.
Besides, the G7 leaders, other leaders from Asia-Pacific countries including Australia, Brazil, Comoros, the Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam, and the European Union are attending as guests, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also attending the summit.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida welcomed all those leaders who arrived at Hiroshima’s atomic bombing memorial and walked to the cenotaph monument for the victims and laid floral wreaths.
The leaders are also scheduled to tour the Hiroshima bombed spot that was destroyed by an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.
According to the statement, G7 leaders discussed Kyiv’s plan for ending the war in Ukraine. The G-7 leaders emphasized that the peace in Ukraine means a full withdrawal of Russian forces adding to the growing dominance of China and the threat to Taiwan.
“We will starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine,” added in a statement.
To follow the news sanctions against Russia, the US added 71 companies to its trade blacklist for supporting Russia. The United Kingdom is also likely to ban copper, aluminum, nickel, and diamonds from Russia. Likewise, other member countries have also planned sanctions against Russia accordingly.
U.S. President Joe Biden informed the G-7 Summit attending leaders that the United States would back joining hands with European partners to train Ukrainian pilots on modern military fighter aircraft, including U.S.-made F-16s.
Sources added that G7 leaders are also to discuss concerns over rapid artificial intelligence advancements, possibility of the US defaulting on its debt etc.
Besides the main summit, there will also be the bilateral side meeting as well as the Quad group are also to meet on Saturday replacing the canceled Sydney summit.
The G7 is an informal grouping of advanced democracies that meets annually to coordinate global economic policy and address other various issues.
The summit is to end on May 21, Sunday.
Meanwhile, China is to convene a Central Asian leaders’ summit to counter the G-7 gathering.
