Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will undertake a packed tour of international engagements this week to drive economic growth and investment in the UK, shore up support
for Ukraine and address critical global challenges like illegal migration.
On Tuesday [16th May], the Prime Minister will attend the Council of Europe Summit in Iceland. The Council of Europe is the continent’s oldest multilateral institution and has played a defining role promoting freedom and democracy for over 70 years.
He will use his engagements at the Summit to discuss the importance of strengthening Europe’s borders – tackling illegal migration and the threat posed by Russia to safeguard our security and prosperity.
The Prime Minister will then travel on to Tokyo for a bilateral visit ahead of the G7, where he is expected to announce new UK-Japan defence and technology collaboration and host a reception of business leaders to deliver major new investments into the UK.
After a day in Tokyo he will head to Hiroshima to attend the G7 Summit, in a historic first visit by a British Prime Minister to the city.
At the G7, the UK will galvanise international action on economic coercion by hostile states and shore up support for Ukraine, as they prepare for escalating military action against Russia’s war of aggression.
Speaking ahead of the visits, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:
“This week I will be travelling from Reykjavik to Hiroshima to drive global action on our most pressing priorities.
“Many of the challenges we are dealing with, from inflation to migration, must be solved by working closely with our international partners.
“I look forward to visiting Japan, a vital economic and defence partner for the UK in the Indo-Pacific. This year’s G7 Summit in Hiroshima comes at a pivotal moment, as Ukraine doubles down in its fight for survival and we deal with complex threats to global peace and prosperity.”
In his first G7 Summit as Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak will hold talks on Ukraine and Indo-Pacific security, economic policy and state threats, and global sustainable infrastructure investment. He is expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings alongside the Summit sessions.
More detail on the Prime Minister’s visit to the Council of Europe and travel to Tokyo and Hiroshima will be set out in the week. Photo by HM Treasury, Wikimedia commons.