Just weeks after a visit to regional rival China, French President Francois Hollande arrives in Japan on Thursday, hoping to close deals on nuclear cooperation and in the aviation sector.
China and the United States are hoping for a new chance to set the course for smoother relations through a secluded desert summit as the Asian power's leader Xi Jinping projects a more confident style.
Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged on Tuesday to open up domestic markets to Indian businesses and narrow a gaping trade deficit between the two countries.
The leaders of the United States and South Korea on Tuesday vowed no concessions to North Korea after months of high tension, saying the burden was on the communist state to end the crisis.
Vladimir Putin called for greater anti-terror cooperation with the US and defended his economic policies against a background of rising discontent, in the first nationwide phone-in of his new Kremlin term.
US President Barack Obama spoke to President Vladimir Putin on Friday and thanked him for Russia's anti-terror help after bomb attacks in Boston blamed on two men of Chechen origin.