HIROSHIMA, May 21 (NNN-NHK) – The Group of Seven (G7) leaders, yesterday rushed, to release a joint statement at their ongoing annual summit, in Japan’s western city of Hiroshima.
The G7 Hiroshima Leaders’ Communique was suddenly issued, with one single version in English yesterday afternoon, followed by two revised versions sent to on-site media, by Japan’s foreign ministry, as of 8.00 p.m. local time.
It was an unusual move, to release the document ahead of schedule, as the three-day gathering will conclude today, local media reported, citing the usual practice of issuing a statement on the last day of the summit.
Doubts have been raised, as at previous Japan-hosted G7 summits, the Japanese foreign ministry usually issued a statement in English and Japanese, almost simultaneously on the very last day.
Japan’s national news agency, Kyodo said, the bloc might have decided to issue the joint statement in advance, to make it noticeable, due to Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky’s high-profile visit to Japan.
According to local media, Zelensky arrived in Hiroshima yesterday, and will attend a Ukraine-focused session with G7 leaders, today.
Amid waves of protests, the G7 leaders’ annual summit opened in the western Japanese city on Friday. In Hiroshima’s Funairi Daiichi Park, not far from the summit’s venue, hundreds of protesters from all over Japan, even abroad, gathered to decry the finger-pointing bloc, that advertises its own version of world order.– NNN-NHK
