Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to call on his Group of Seven counterparts to jointly assist members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to crack down on terrorism, a Japanese government source said Sunday.
The underlying aim is to curb the expanding influence of the Islamic State militant group in Southeast Asia and step up the fight against terrorism in the entire Asian region ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the source said.
Abe wants to incorporate joint support for ASEAN countries in an action plan for combating terrorism to be crafted at the G-7 summit, which is to take place in Mie Prefecture on Thursday and Friday.