U.S. state secretary visits Ottawa before G7 summit

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived here Thursday morning for an official visit to Canada ahead of the upcoming Group 7 (G7) summit in Biarritz, France, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The G7 countries are to meet in France this weekend for their annual summit. The last one took place in Canada in 2018 and ended in a tense spat between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump over trade issues.

Pompeo is to meet with Trudeau during his visit, seen as a follow-up to Trudeau's June meeting with Trump in Washington, D.C., where the two leaders discussed plans to ratify the new North American trade agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will also meet with Pompeo, according to the Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Freeland's office said the meeting with Pompeo will center around Canada-U.S. cooperation on a number of domestic and international fronts, as well as security and foreign policy matters.

The U.S. State Department said the crisis in Venezuela will also be on the agenda.