The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) most advanced industrialized countries today agreed to a new initiative to respond to economic coercion and pledged to take steps to ensure that anyone who tries to use economic dependency as a weapon fails and faces concequenses.

The initiative, called the Coordinating Platform on Economic Coercion, will use early warning and rapid information sharing on economic coercion, and its members will meet regularly for consultation, the leaders said in a statement.

“The world is witnessing an alarming increase in episodes of financial coercion, in which financial distress is sought to be exploited,” G7 leaders said in a statement after meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.

The statement did not name China, but in details released yesterday, the British government pointed to attempts by China to use its economic power in political conflicts with Australia and Lithuania.

In the statement, G7 leaders also pledge to deepen cooperation to strengthen supply chains and call for a greater role for lower-income countries in promoting economic resilience.

The leaders called on all countries to adopt the principles of “transparency, diversification, safety, sustainability and trust and reliability” in building supply chain networks.

The Group of Seven also agreed to deepen cooperation on information sharing as it strives to set new standards for next-generation technologies.

Japan-G7: Public support for gas investment may be temporary

The Group of Seven (G7) most advanced industrialized nations believe public support for gas investment may be temporarily the way to go as countries accelerate their gradual weaning from Russia, they said in a statement today. .

“We underline the important role that increased LNG (liquefied natural gas) deliveries can play and recognize that investment in the sector may be what needs to be done in response to the current crisis and to address potential shortages in the gas market caused by the crisis,” the document states.