G7 issues joint statement day before summit ends

HIROSHIMA, Japan - The Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Saturday 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 on Saturday afternoon, followed by two revised versions sent to on-site media by Japan's foreign ministry as of 8 pm local time.

It was an unusual move to release the document ahead of schedule as the three-day gathering will conclude on Sunday, 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, local media reported.

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 on Saturday and will attend a Ukraine-focused session with G7 leaders on Sunday.

The G7 consists of the United States, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada and Japan.

Amid waves of protests, 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.