Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a speech during the opening session of the Tokyo Global Dialogue, on Feb 20, 2023, in Tokyo. (PHOTO / AP)

TOKYO - Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday Japan will host an online Group of Seven summit meeting on Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Japan is also planning to pledge another $5.5 billion in aid to Ukraine, Kishida told an online global event.

The aim of the meeting is to confirm support for Ukraine and continuation of sanctions against Russia, and to demonstrate the group's unity, Japanese news agency Kyodo wrote.

On Tuesday, Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said financial leaders of the G7 will meet on Thursday to discuss measures that will put pressure on Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Japan will chair the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 nations in the Indian city of Bengaluru. The meeting will come almost a year since the conflict began.

We will continue to closely coordinate with G7 and the international community to enhance the effect of sanctions to achieve the ultimate goal of prompting Russia to withdraw (from the conflict in Ukraine).

Shunichi Suzuki, Japanese Finance Minister

"Support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia will be the main topics of discussion," Suzuki told a news conference. "We will continue to closely coordinate with G7 and the international community to enhance the effect of sanctions to achieve the ultimate goal of prompting Russia to withdraw."

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Japan chairs G7 ministerial meetings this year in the run-up to the May 19-21 summit meeting of G7 leaders in Hiroshima. The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States.

The G7 meeting will be followed later in the week by a broader gathering of G20 financial leaders from the world's major economies, which will be hosted in Bengaluru by India, which has the G20 presidency.

The conflict in Ukraine and the global economy are expected to be the focus of the G20 talks.

It will discuss inflation that has been heightened by the conflict, energy and food prices, and support for emerging market economies facing debt problems. A failure to tackle emerging market debt could lead to a financial crisis, a senior Japanese official said earlier.

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"By contributing to discussions on these problems, we are hoping to produce significant results that will lead to stable and sustainable global growth," Suzuki said.