METI Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ishii Participates in G7 Industry, Technology and Digital Ministerial Meeting

1. Overview of the meeting

The meeting, which was chaired by Italy, was held in Verona, Italy, on March 14, and in Trento, Italy, on March 15. G7 ministers held discussions on [i] AI and emerging technologies in industry, [ii] secure and resilient networks, supply chains and key input factors, [iii] digital development – growing together, [iv] AI in the public sector, [v] advancing the outcomes of the Hiroshima AI process, and [vi] digital government.

As representatives of Japan, Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ishii, Mr. Kono Taro, Minister for Digital Transformation, and Mr. Hasegawa Junji, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, participated in the meeting.

Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ishii attended the meeting held on March 14, and focusing on the topic of industrial use of digital technologies, conveyed the importance of further AI development, ensuring AI disciplines, and the early industrial adoption of quantum technologies. He also stressed the significance of international collaboration in developing an environment for fair digital competition. Moreover, he affirmed the importance not only of strengthening collaboration among G7 countries to enhance the resilience of semiconductor supply chains, but also of cooperation in creating a market in which sustainable and reliable products of strategic goods are preferred.

At the meeting held on March 15, Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ishii explained, with an emphasis on AI governance, the launch of the Japan AI Safety Institute. He also conveyed the importance of international collaborative efforts in formulating a method for assessing the  AI safety and to ensure interoperability between AI governance frameworks.

In addition, Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ishii attended a G7/B7 working session and declared Japan’s aim to realize the Society 5.0 concept in which a digital society is achieved by integrating cyber space and physical space at a high level of sophistication. Based on this declaration, he explained Japan’s basic awareness of and recent efforts for AI, quantum technologies, and semiconductors, and exchanged views with other participants.

Finally, as an outcome of the meeting, G7 ministers adopted a ministerial declaration. Major details of the ministerial declaration are as follows.

• Building upon the G7 Leaders’ Statement on Economic Resilience and Economic Security at the Hiroshima Summit, including the principles on resilient and reliable supply chains, the ministers acknowledge the need to ensure resilient and reliable global supply chains. They recognize the importance of cooperative efforts to pursue resiliency of global supply chains especially in digital industries in order to promote sustainable, reliable, and trustworthy sources for strategic goods.
• The ministers acknowledge the key role of semiconductors as foundational to the digital economy and their supply chain critical to economic security and resilience. To that end, they welcome the establishment of a semiconductors Point of Contact (PoC) Group dedicated to facilitating information exchange and sharing best practices among G7 members. The PoC Group plans to exchange information on issues that are impacting the semiconductor industry, including but not limited to: pre-competitive industrial research and development priorities, sustainable manufacturing, the effect of non-market policies and practices, and crisis coordination channels.
• The ministers recognize the benefits of sharing information among G7 countries to promote the development of human resources and the sharing of technical knowledge and to support research and development toward the industrial adoption of quantum technologies.
• Concerning the Hiroshima AI process, the ministers agreed on certain actions, including the following: promoting the dissemination of the International Guiding Principles and the International Code of Conduct; expanding engagement with key partner countries, companies, and other organizations; developing tools and mechanisms to monitor the status of the application of the Code of Conduct; and collaborating with international organizations. They are committed to achieving an appropriate balance between fostering innovation and the need for appropriate guardrails as they advance their collective efforts to promote safe, secure, and trustworthy AI. They stress the importance of international discussions on interoperability between AI governance frameworks.

2. Meetings with other participating ministers

Taking the opportunity of the meeting, Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ishii held bilateral meetings and talks with representatives of participating countries and international organizations.

At the meeting with H.E. Mr. François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Canada, the two sides held discussions on bilateral cooperation in the field of the economy and Japan-Canada collaboration in G7 meetings in 2025, which will be chaired by Canada.

Related Link

• Ministerial Declaration and Annexes (G7 INDUSTRY, TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL MINISTERIAL MEETING)

Division in Charge

Information on the meeting held on March 14:

International Economic Affairs Division, Trade Policy Bureau

Information on the meeting held on March 15:

Office of International Affairs, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau