Japan is poised to showcase with other Group of Seven advanced nations their "strong determination" to defend the international rules-based order during their summit starting next week, in a pushback to Russia and China, who are seen to be posing challenges to global peace and stability.

Strengthening ties with emerging and developing countries known collectively as the "Global South" -- such as by addressing concerns over food and energy security, public health and climate change -- will also be on the agenda, the government said Thursday as it announced its priorities for the three-day summit from May 19 in Hiroshima, western Japan.

"The international community is now at a historic inflection point, having experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and being faced with Russia's aggression against Ukraine, which has shaken the very foundation of the international order," the Foreign Ministry said.

Japan is hosting the G-7 summit for the seventh time, with the unity of the group -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union -- increasing its significance in the face of the war in Ukraine and China's military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific, including over Taiwan.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October 2021, will chair the meeting, which is expected to bring together leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron.

As for "important themes" during the summit, the ministry cited eight items -- regional situations such as Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific, nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, economic security, climate change, food, public health, development as well as gender, human rights and digitalization.

On Ukraine, Japan expects the G-7 to continue to "strongly promote" sanctions against Russia, whose invasion began more than a year ago, and support Kyiv, the ministry said.

The G-7 leaders are also expected to reaffirm their cooperation toward a "free and open Indo-Pacific," apparently reflecting their concerns at China's expansionary moves in the South and East China seas and tensions over Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island that Beijing views as its own territory.

Japan, the only G-7 member from Asia, has moved in tandem with other G-7 peers in seeking to pressure Russia on the grounds that the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific are inseparable, saying that "Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow."

The G-7 has been vigilant against China's expanding military and economic clout, implicitly criticizing its behaviors as "unilateral attempts to alter the status quo by force" while stressing the importance of "peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

The summit will consist of a total of nine sessions, with three of them being outreach events involving guests to the summit, including the leaders of India and Brazil, which are often regarded as Global South states, according to ministry officials.

The Global South is a term that refers to developing nations mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Many of them have not sided with the United States and its allies over Russia's war in Ukraine.

An advocate of a world without nuclear weapons, Kishida -- whose constituency is in Hiroshima, which was devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in 1945 -- also plans to lead discussions to promote "realistic and practical" efforts on nuclear disarmament.

In a bid to deepen awareness toward the consequences of nuclear attacks, Japan is arranging a visit by G-7 leaders to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum dedicated to documenting the world's first nuclear attack, according to sources close to the matter.

The Japanese government is also considering a museum tour by leaders of the guest countries, such as India, the sources said.

If realized, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first leader to make such a visit since 1974, when the South Asian nation carried out its first nuclear test, according to the Hiroshima city office. In 1957, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited the museum.

Other countries invited to the summit are Australia, Comoros, which is the chair of the African Union, Cook Islands, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam.

On the sidelines of the summit, Kishida is planning to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts, according to the Foreign Ministry.