Press Releases
G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Osaka-Sakai
“Economic Coercion / Enhancing Supply Chain Resiliency” (Session 4) and “Closing Session”
October 29, 2023
On October 29, commencing at around 1:20pm, for approximately 65 minutes,and commencing at around 2:30pm, for approximately 10 minutes, in Osaka, Ms. KAMIKAWA Yoko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, participated in the “Economic Coercion / Enhancing Supply Chain Resiliency” (Session 4) and “Closing Session”, respectively. The overview of the meeting is as follows.
1. Economic Coercion / Supply Chain Resilience
- (a) At the outset, Minister KAMIKAWA emphasized the importance of cooperation among the G7 in addressing economic coercion and enhancing supply chain resilience in the context of complex international economic inter-dependencies.
- (b) The participating Ministers engaged in a lively discussion, and regarding economic coercion, Ministers welcomed the ongoing work of the Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion, whose launch was confirmed by the Leaders at the G7 Hiroshima Summit, as well as the work by the G7 trade officials that contributes to it. Ministers agreed that the G7 will continue to make further progress and emphasized the importance of strengthening colaboration with third countries. Ministers also agreed to continue joint efforts, including at the WTO, to ensure rapid information sharing, and collectively explore responses.
- (c) Regarding supply chain resilience, Ministers reaffirmed that the G7 will keep encouraging all countries to adopt the principles for resilient and reliable supply chains confirmed at the G7 Hiroshima Summit, and that these principles can play a major role in achieving inclusive growth in emerging and developing countries. Ministers also reaffirmed the necessity not to weaponize economic dependencies and to build on free, fair, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationships, and to accelerate collaboration with the wider international community, as well as the need to strengthen engagement with the private sector, the key players in supply chain.
- (d) Regarding the import restriction measures on Japanese aquatic products after the discharge of ALPS treated water into the sea, Minister KAMIKAWA reiterated the need for calm responses based on scientific evidence, and other countries expressed their understanding and support for Japan’s position.
2. “Closing Session”
- (a) Upon closing the Meeting, Minister Kamikawa stated that as the world faces multiple crises and the international economic order based on the World Trade Organization (WTO) is under serious challenge, G7 members were able to demonstrate, throughout the discussion at the Second G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Osaka-Sakai, our strong commitment to continue to safeguard the free and fair rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, and advance WTO reform so that it will be able to meet the demands of the times.
- (b) Based on the discussions held during the weekend, Minister Kamikawa expressed that G7 must first collaborate toward achieving outcomes at MC13 which is just four months away, and with a view to discussions beyond MC13, Minister Kamikawa stated that G7 members need to continue to work closely to address challenges, while at the same further strengthen collaboration with international partners beyond the G7, which include Global South countries. In addition, Minister Kamikawa stated that it is important to take into account the perspective of inclusiveness and the philosophy of SDGs in these efforts.
- (c) Parcipating Ministers expressed their sincere appreciation for Japan, as the G7 Presidency this year, to conclude the Meeting successfully, and showed expectation to continue to collaborate through G7 Trade Track under the Italian Presidency next year.
- (d) Finally, as the outcome of the discussions throughout the weekend, the G7 adopted the Trade Ministers’ Statement (English (PDF)
/ Japanese (PDF) ).