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G-20 energy, environment chiefs meet amid Middle East tensions
KARUIZAWA, Japan (Kyodo) – Energy and environment ministers from the Group of 20 major economies gathered in central Japan on Saturday for talks likely to center on energy security concerns following attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, as well as environmental issues.
The two-day meeting began in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa after Thursday's tanker attacks, which the United States blames on Iran, heightened Middle East tensions and sent crude oil prices surging.
"The situation over energy and climate change issues among G-20 members vary and it is not easy to unite one message concerning those issues," Japanese industry minister Hiroshige Seko said in his opening remarks.
But as co-chair of the meeting, Seko said, he hopes to send a message of solidarity among G-20 members to the rest of the world.
The United States and Iran have been cranking up the rhetoric over the attacks on the two tankers, one of which was operated by a Tokyo-based company, near the strategically important sea lane.
For Japan, the stability of the Middle East is of vital importance as the resource-poor country is dependent on the region for most of its oil supply.
The attacks took place when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was visiting Tehran in a bid to ease the growing tension between Iran and the United States over their row stemming from a nuclear deal that Iran reached with the United States and five other world powers in 2015.
Also on the agenda is ways to utilize clean energy sources such as hydrogen, as well as efforts to reduce plastic waste in the ocean.
About 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year, of which 8 million tons end up in the world's oceans, according to the U.N Environment Program.
Japan drew criticism last year for refusing to endorse a Group of Seven statement setting a target for plastic litter reduction. The United States also did not sign the document.
Playing catch up, Japan is now aiming to garner support for a pledge to stop plastic waste from going into the ocean by 2050 at a G-20 leaders' meeting later this month in Osaka, western Japan.
The issue "is a global problem that needs to be addressed by both the public and private sector," Seko said, adding that Japan will play its part by aiming to make businesses charge for plastic shopping bags by next April.
The G-20 consists of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190615/p2g/00m/0bu/052000c
did someone take the last chicken and not tell the food gestapos in the back?