The G7 ministerial meetings will kick off on Saturday in Japan as part of Tokyo's presidency over the group. Sapporo will host talks on climate, energy and environment from April 15 to 16 and foreign ministers will meet in Karuizawa from April 16 to 18, Trend reports citing TASS.
Environmental issues
According to the Kyodo news agency, the Japanese government expects to include a provision approving the discharge of radioactively treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the text of the document to be adopted at the end of the meeting in Sapporo. The Japanese authorities want to point out that the G7 welcomes the transparency of the upcoming dumping process. In addition, Tokyo intends to enshrine the progress of local authorities in the issue of reuse of land cleaned during the decontamination of soil after the accident at the nuclear power plant.
Problems in energy sector
The issue of supplying Japan with resources is very important to local authorities, and it could cause a heated discussion at the G7 ministerial meeting. The situation in the country is complicated by the fact that some thermal power plants have been shut down, and the process of restarting nuclear power plants is going very slowly, due to the fact that regional administrations often do not give the necessary permission. Another negative factor was the global rise in energy prices. According to the Kyodo news agency, this summer Tokyo could once again face difficulties with supply and demand for electricity, and in the event of an abnormal heat wave, it could face the threat of shortages.
Achieving unity
A Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman told a TASS correspondent that the Japanese authorities hope to show "unshakable unity" at the talks of foreign ministers in Karuizawa. The diplomat pointed out that it was not only about unity within the G7, but also about the willingness to fully cooperate with the international community.
Among the main topics of the meeting are the situation around Ukraine and the situation in the Indo-Pacific region. "Security in Europe and security in the Indo-Pacific region cannot be discussed in isolation from each other, these are closely related topics," the Japanese diplomat noted.
In turn, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, in his speech at the Summit for Democracy in March, said that participants at the Karuizawa meeting were to voice the G7 position that the association would not tolerate unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force anywhere in the world.