G7 Defense Summit convenes amid ongoing conflicts

G7 defense ministers started talks on Saturday against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and mounting pressure on Ukraine as it faces another winter of fighting, News.Az reports citing Voice of America.

Italy, holding the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven countries, organized the body's first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense, staged in Naples, the southern city that is also home to a NATO base.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto welcomed each of the attendees, including NATO chief Mark Rutte and the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.

"I believe that our presence today ... sends a strong message to those who try to hinder our democratic systems," Crosetto said as he opened the event.

"The brutal Russian aggressions in Ukraine and the indeed critical situation in the Middle East, combined with the profound instability of sub-Saharan Africa and the increasing tension in the Indo-Pacific region highlight a deteriorated security framework with forecasts for the near future that cannot be positive," he said.

"Ample space" would be given to discussing the escalating Middle East conflict during the one-day summit, Crosetto said a day earlier in Brussels.

Also on the summit agenda is the war in Ukraine, development and security in Africa and the situation in the Asia-Pacific.

News.Az