SECRETARY BLINKEN: Good afternoon, everyone. Let me - let me start with the situation in Sudan. For the past 36 hours, we and our partners have been focused on how to stop the widespread fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Indiscriminate military operations have resulted in significant civilian deaths and injuries, and are recklessly endangering the Sudanese people, diplomats including U.S. personnel, and humanitarian aid workers.
This morning, I made calls to Generals Burhan and Hemedti, urging them to agree to a 24-hour ceasefire to allow Sudanese to safely reunite with their families and to obtain desperately needed relief supplies.
I also underscored in both calls the responsibilities that Sudanese fighting forces bear for ensuring the safety and security of U.S. and other diplomats who are resident in Sudan, as well as for UN staff and other humanitarian partners. If implemented successfully, a ceasefire for 24 hours can create a foundation to build upon for a more sustained halt to the fighting and a return to negotiations on a durable end to the hostilities.
The people of Sudan have made clear their democratic aspirations. After months of talks, they were close to restoring a civilian-led government. We remain committed to helping them achieve that goal. At the same time, we will take all appropriate measures to ensure the safety of our people.
Now, we just finished up a marathon couple of days, during which the G7 foreign ministers came together to address some of the most consequential issues confronting our countries and people all over the world.
I want to thank our Japanese hosts and especially my friend Foreign Minister Hayashi for the warm hospitality and for his leadership.
Together, we have strengthened the centrality of the G7 as the steering committee of the world's advanced industrial democracies, and deepened ties with other countries around the world. And together, we emerge from this ministerial more globally engaged than ever.
A major theme of this G7 was how our nations can leverage our strengths to work with our partners to deliver better futures for people around the world, to focus on the issues of most concern to them in their daily lives. And this means combining our political and economic muscle and our development dollars, yen, euros, and pounds to support countries on every continent in meeting their food, energy, climate, infrastructure, and technology challenges.
It means shaping a more inclusive international system - including with UN reform, making the international financial system more responsive to the actual needs of countries, and finding new formats for consultation that welcome more voices. It means offering more countries better, more sustainable, and more equitable ways to prosper, while respecting their sovereignty. From Central Asia to the Pacific Islands to Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, our goal is to offer leaders and citizens better choices - free from coercion, unsustainable debt, and malign influence.
We also discussed a range of challenges to our shared vision for a free, open, secure, and prosperous international system. The most immediate challenge, of course, is Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.
Yesterday, we recommitted to Ukraine: with the security and economic support that it needs today to defend its sovereignty and people, and for the long term to ensure that Ukraine doesn't just survive, that it thrives - and that Russia is deterred from further aggression.
This includes continuing to tighten sanctions and export controls, putting that pressure on Russia to limit its ability to wage its war, cracking down on sanctions evaders wherever they hide, rejecting Moscow's nuclear blackmail, and ensuring accountability for war crimes.
The G7 from the get-go has led the world in galvanizing and sustaining support for Ukraine. Now, as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive to take back its land, to liberate its people in occupied territories, to stop the missiles, bombs, and drones which continue to rain down daily on its civilians, we stand with Ukraine.
And when the inevitable voices, led by a Russia that is losing its war of conquest, talk about avoiding escalation or call for Ukraine to stop reclaiming its own territory, we will remind the world who is the aggressor and who is the victim - who has 20 percent of its land occupied by enemy forces; whose children are being disappeared, and whose civilians are being killed and left in mass graves.
At the same time, Russia is again blocking Ukraine's grain from reaching the world, spiking food prices for people everywhere. For the last few days, no ships have gotten out of Ukraine, and more than 50 have been blocked from going in to load up. Countries around the world depend on this life-saving grain. Russia is breaking its promises to them.
We also discussed China. All of our nations have consequential relationships with Beijing, and a number of G7 colleagues have recently visited. What struck me in hearing the readouts of those conversations is that we are resolved and united in the need for candid discussions with Beijing about its unfair trade practices, its actions that undermine the international rules that all nations benefit from, and the risks if it breaks its word and starts arming Russia. And of course we're united in making clear to Beijing our opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo with Taiwan.
We're also equally committed, individually and collectively, to constructively engaging with Beijing if it chooses to contribute its efforts - to efforts to address shared global challenges. That is what the world expects of responsible powers.
At this ministerial, we also focused on nuclear proliferation. I'm grateful to Japan for the high priority that it has placed on countering nuclear threats - including from the DPRK's dangerous ballistic missile launches; Iran's expansion of its nuclear activities, including the operation of advanced centrifuges and the accumulation of highly enriched uranium, for which it has no credible civilian explanation or purpose; Russia's New START suspension and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric; and the PRC's opaque and rapid build-up of its own nuclear arsenal. These actions only strengthen our determination to address nuclear dangers.
We're also focused on the threat posed by synthetic opioids. Our communique speaks to our collective commitment to developing and implementing solutions to this crisis, and we will continue to cooperate closely - indeed, we will strengthen that cooperation - addressing illicit financing, disrupting trafficking networks, supporting public health responses, and more.
So it's been a very productive and important few days which lay the groundwork for the Leaders Summit in Hiroshima in a month's time. And I commend to you the joint statement that we issued, or will soon issue, reflecting the work that we've done.
With that, happy to take some questions.
