By Kate Mayberry and John Power
     

    Japan is hosting the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, the home town of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, from May 19 -21, welcoming leaders form Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union is a ‘non-enumerated member’.

    The event will begin on Friday morning with Kishida welcoming the visiting leaders and officials at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park where they will lay a wreath to the thousands of people who were killed when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city in 1945.

    Discussions are set to start at about lunchtime with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and how to respond to it high on the agenda.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also expected to address the leaders by video at some point during the weekend.

    Protesters are planning a ‘Crush G7 Summit’ in the city.

    China is a big issue as the G7 leaders meet in Japan, with some calling for a tougher line.

    But European Council President Charles Michel has stressed it is in the European Union’s interest to maintain “stable and constructive” cooperation with China.

    Michel was speaking on the sidelines of the Hiroshima summit.

    He says the EU will urge China to step up pressure on Russia to stop its military aggression in Ukraine.

    The G7 members take it in turns to host the group’s annual summit often choosing beach resorts or historically important cities.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has gone for the latter.

    On August 6 1945, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, levelling the city and killing thousands of people.

    The evidence of the nuclear blast are clearly visible and Kishida will formally welcome the leaders to the summit at the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park. The area was the commercial and political heart of the city before the bombing and today only the ruined shell of the Atomic Bomb Dome remains, a haunting reminder of the destructive power of nuclear weapons.

    For Kishida, committed to a nuclear weapons-free world, it is all about conveying “the reality” of an atomic attack. You can read more in this analysis from Al Jazeera’s John Power, who is in Hiroshima.

    The leaders of the Group of Seven are gathering at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park  for the formal opening of the three-day summit.

    Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is greeting the G7 leaders one by one as they arrive at the park, which commemorates the 140,000 people who are estimated to have died when the United States dropped the atomic bomb ‘Little Boy’ over the city on August 6, 1945.

    Kishida, whose electoral seat is in Hiroshima, is a long-time advocate against nuclear weapons and plans to use the G7 summit to amplify his message about the need to work toward a nuclear-free world.

    After being welcomed by Kishida, the G7 leaders are expected to lay wreaths at the cenotaph for the victims of the nuclear bomb.

    Russia’s diamond industry is in the sights of the G7 leaders.

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is to announce a ban on Russian diamonds, according to a UK government statement.

    The Financial Times is reporting other countries will join the ban, as the G7 tries to cut off the diamond industry’s revenues.

    Citing draft G7 statements, the business paper says there are plans for a “traceability” initiative that would create a system for tracking individual gemstones. There isn’t one at the moment.

    Russia’s state-owned diamond company Alrosa is already subject to sanctions.