MIYAZAKI: Agriculture ministers from the Group of Seven advanced economies on Saturday agreed to continue to support Ukraine’s agriculture sector, which has been thrown into confusion since Russia’s invasion.

The agreement was reached during the ministers’ meeting that started in the southwestern Japan city of Miyazaki the same day. Mykola Solskyi, minister of agrarian policy and food of Ukraine, joined the first-day talks, which centered on measures to strengthen food security, in an online format.

Japanese agriculture minister Tetsuro Nomura, chair of the G-7 meeting, told reporters that farmland and agricultural infrastructure in Ukraine have been destroyed by Russia. He said he told other participants in the meeting that Japan will support Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction including by providing field irrigation technologies.

The G-7 agriculture ministers will continue to discuss ways to beef up food security Sunday, with food supplies destabilized around the world amid the war in Ukraine.

After wrapping up their discussions Sunday, the ministers will adopt a ministerial statement that seeks to achieve both productivity improvement and sustainability and compile related action guidelines.

Ahead of the opening of the G-7 meeting, Nomura held talks with his Canadian counterpart, Marie-Claude Bibeau. To maintain supplies of Canadian farm products and production materials to Japan, the two ministers agreed to hold dialogues on a regular basis.

It is the first meeting of G-7 agriculture ministers held in Japan since the 2016 meeting in the central Japan city of Niigata.

Also on Saturday, G-7 labor and employment ministers kicked off their two-day meeting in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, western Japan, exchanging opinions on investment in human capital. They shared the recognition that the reskilling of workers is important, at a time when digital and many other industries are facing lack of human resources.

JIJI Press