Japan’s new Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said the Group of Seven nations affirmed their support for Ukraine in its war against Russia during a meeting of top diplomats in New York, while arranging further talks in Tokyo in November.
Making her diplomatic debut at an annual session of the U.N. General Assembly, Kamikawa, who replaced Yoshimasa Hayashi in a Cabinet reshuffle last week to become the first female appointed to the role in about two decades, chaired her first G-7 gathering.
Kamikawa said the G-7 foreign ministers are scheduled to get together in Japan’s capital for two days from Nov. 7, with Japan holding the rotating presidency of the grouping of developed economies this year.
“We were able to have candid and in-depth discussions. I was warmly welcomed by the other foreign ministers,” Kamikawa told reporters.
At the G-7 gathering in the United States, Japan explained its work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure the safe release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, Kamikawa said.
She expressed gratitude to the G-7 countries for their understanding of the water discharge, Kamikawa said.
The foreign ministers also exchanged views on China’s increasing military and economic clout in the Indo-Pacific region.
The gathering of the representatives of Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union, came after face-to-face talks in Germany in February, in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa in April, and in Britain in June.
By Nadeem Faisal Baiga
