TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has not yet established its position on a U.S. proposal for adding countries to the Group of Seven summit to be held later this year, Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Wednesday.
Aso told reporters after a conference call with his G7 counterparts that he could not comment on what other countries said at the meeting when asked whether G7 ministers took up the issue during the call.
“It’s the chair who will decide on such a matter,” Aso said, adding that G7 sherpas were discussing the matter. “Japan has not reached a stage where we can say it’s good or bad.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would postpone a Group of Seven summit he had hoped to hold next month until at least September and expand the list of invitees to include Australia, Russia, South Korea and India.
Trump’s suggestion that G7 could be expanded to include Russia was quickly rejected by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the European Union.
The G7 groups the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada, and the European Union also attends.
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto and Daniel Leussink; editing by Jason Neely)
