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Japan's Foreign Minister to attend G-20 foreign ministers' meeting in Bali
Hayashi said during a press conference that he will explain Japan's policies on food and energy supply issues at the two-day meeting starting Thursday, as Russia's war on Ukraine, launched in late February, continues.
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Yoshimasa Hayashi (left), named to become Japan's new foreign minister, leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo on November 10, 2021.
(AFP/Kazuhori Nogi)
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tuesday he will travel to Bali later this week to attend a foreign ministerial meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.
Hayashi said during a press conference that he will explain Japan's policies on food and energy supply issues at the two-day meeting starting Thursday, as Russia's war on Ukraine, launched in late February, continues.
The meeting of major developed and fast-growing economies is also expected to be attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Hayashi said he will explain Tokyo's position on Moscow's invasion of Ukraine while dealing with issues related to Russia "appropriately" by working with other nations, after it has become "no longer possible to maintain the same relationship with Russia" as before.
It will be Hayashi's first G-20 gathering since taking office in November.
At a meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors held in Washington in April, US, Canadian and European delegations walked out as Russian officials began talking. But Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda did not join the boycott.
Last week, the leaders of the Group of Seven countries, which are also G-20 members, agreed at their three-day gathering in Schloss Elmau in southern Germany to maintain and strengthen economic sanctions on Russia while confirming support for Ukraine.
Some other G-20 members such as China and India have not joined the US-led sanctions.
The upcoming foreign ministerial talks will pave the way for a G-20 summit to be held in November in Bali, with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited to it by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
The G-20 ministers are expected to discuss rising inflation and shortages in energy and food.
The G-7 nations have condemned Russia for destroying Ukraine's agricultural infrastructure and blockading Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea that has prevented crops such as grain and corn from being shipped worldwide.
Food security concerns are growing in some African and Middle Eastern countries, which are highly dependent on Ukrainian grain.
The G-7 has stepped up accusations against Russia that it is using food as a "weapon of war," while Moscow has blamed the food and energy issues on Western sanctions.
Including the G-7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union -- the G-20 groups Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.
