"The ministers will begin their work looking at the consequences of the unprecedented natural catastrophe that has just hit Japan," French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told journalists.
Matsumoto would help the G8 "better define their activities in the short, but also the medium and long term, to help Japan overcome this ordeal."
Japan`s new foreign minister, Takeaki Matsumoto, was also due to meet Clinton Tuesday before she travels to Cairo and Tunis, US officials said.
Japanese police have said the official death toll following Friday`s earthquake and tsunami has risen to 2,414,but officials say at least 10,000 are likely to have perished.
Engineers were left struggling to control overheating reactors there, after a huge explosion rocked a nuclear plant, the third since the devastating quake-tsunami catastrophe.
Millions have been left without water, electricity, fuel or enough food and hundreds of thousands more are homeless and facing harsh conditions with sub-zero temperatures overnight, and snow and rain forecast.
(U.KR-DLN/H-AK)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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