G7 summit LIVE 2023: Indian PM Narendra Modi arrives in Hiroshima

Shortly before leaving for Japan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pleged to raise the voices and concerns of the Global South nations at the G7 summit in Hiroshima.

In an interview with Nikkei Asia, the PM said he was looking forward to in areas such as energy, digital technology and supply chains and emphasise India's role as a "reliable partner" in addressing these challenges.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as per reports, has landed in Hiroshima, Japan. He will be attending the G7 Summit at the invitation of Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan.

As per an earlier tweet by Arindam Bagchi, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, this visit marks an opportunity for India to engage with important partners in multilateral and bilateral formats.

The visit to Japan is part of Modi's three-nation tour.

14 years after Brazil's last participation in the G7, the country's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has arrived in the western Japanese city of Hiroshima for G7 Summit.

US President Joe Biden, who is in Japan for the Group of Seven (G7) leaders' summit in Hiroshima, will later today (Thursday, May 19th), meet with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

PM Modi and Ukraine President Zelenskyy to meet in Hiroshima. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began last year. 

Spouses of the G7 leaders on Friday, 19 May,  visited the victims of the 1945 atomic attack in the city of Hiroshima in western Japan and placed floral tributes.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's wife Yuko, observed a moment of silence with her counterparts including the United States' President's wife Jill Biden, British Prime Minister's wife Akshata Murthy, German Chancellor's wife Britta Ernst and the European Commission President's husband Heiko Von Der Leyen, in front of the cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

During the visit to Hiroshima peace memorial park earlier today, G7 leaders met with OGURA Keiko, hibakusha (an atomic bombing survivor).
 

The first plenary session of G7 leaders was held on on Friday (May 19) in Hiroshima, Japan. The three-day summit, which will end on Sunday (May 21), will see leaders decided future strategy on the ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict and other global issues.

Earlier, the leadders visited the city's peace memorial which marked the dropping of nuclear bomb in World War Two. 

French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Council Charles Michel and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni held a roundtable meeting in Hiroshima, Japan ahead of the G7 summit, which starts in the afternoon.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reached Hiroshima, Japan on Friday to attend the Group of Seven (G7) leaders' summit. On arrival, Albanese was greeted on the airport tarmac by officials after he exited his plane. 

Thousands of police have been deployed in Hiroshima and security tightened for the summit, amid some rallies against the summit.

The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal group of the world's largest industrialised democracies with no permanent secretariat or legal structure. The group met for the first time in 1975, as its leaders battled to deal with the oil crisis. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States are among its members. Its member countries have a combined yearly gross domestic product (GDP) of $40 trillion, accounting for little under half of the world economy. It is viewed as a platform for the world's richest nations to debate global concerns.
 

As reported by Bloomberg News, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will fly to Japan to attend the G7 conference in person. Zelensky's physical presence would come as a surprise since the Japanese administration told local media last week that the Ukrainian leader would only attend meetings virtually.

The Group of Seven leaders are meeting at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to officially kick off the three-day summit.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is welcoming the G7 leaders one by one as they arrive at the park, which honours the 140,000 people who are thought to have perished when the United States detonated the atomic bomb 'Little Boy' over the city on August 6, 1945.

A solemn moment in Hiroshima today when the G7 leaders lay wreaths of white flowers at the memorial to those who died as a result of the nuclear bomb. They lowered their heads in front of the 1952 memorial. 

French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met for bilateral discussions on Friday (May 19), ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.

Macron told Kishida that the summit will give an opportunity for leaders to come together on the Ukraine conflict and achieve progress on a variety of problems such as energy, environment, artificial intelligence, and the economy.

Prior to the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, today, 19 March, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held talks.

Macron assured Kishida that the summit will provide the leaders a chance to come together in regard to the conflict in Ukraine and make progress on a number of other topics, including energy, artificial intelligence, the environment, and the economy. 

"I also hope that we can continue the bilateral roadmap that we have defined together, which is now complete, which will allow us to build an even stronger bilateral cooperation for the years to come,” said Macron. The G7 summit will run from Friday to Sunday. 
 

The United States and the rest of the "Group of Seven" major economies will announce additional sanctions and export limits targeting Russia for its war in Ukraine, a US official said ahead of a G7 summit in Japan.

The G7 leaders will meet in Hiroshima on Friday, with the ongoing invasion of Ukraine high on the agenda. The United States has pushed strong sanctions against Russian corporations, institutions, and individuals, and the upcoming declaration is intended to reinforce international powers' determination to help Ukraine while putting pressure on Moscow.