Speaking with the news media ahead of the Group of Eight rich nations summit in Hokkaido, northern Japan, on July 7-9, Yasuo Fukuda said: "The G8 summit alone cannot ensure stability in the world economy," but it would be an important meeting to address the ongoing credit crisis, and growing oil and food prices.
He said those were complicated issues that could not be resolved in the short term.
Fukuda also said the summit was unlikely to make any final decision on cuts in greenhouse gas emissions as the issue was the UN's prerogative.
Speaking about Japan's ties with North Korea, which Tokyo accuses of kidnapping its nationals in the 1970s-1980s, the premier said they would hopefully improve, but this "will take a lot of time."
He said Japan would ease unilateral sanctions imposed on the regime if Pyongyang fulfilled its promise to carry out more investigations into the kidnappings.
Fukuda said further efforts were needed to persuade Iran to drop its nuclear program, which Western nations suspect is a cover for plans to build nuclear bombs.
Meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Rome recently, Fukuda urged him to suspend uranium enrichment, used in electricity generation and weapons production, but the Iranian leader said his country would continue pursuing its right to peaceful nuclear technology.
Fukuda said "such a complicated issue needs a thorough discussion," and the final decision should be extremely well thought-out.
