Major nations should back dollar - Japan

Talks at the July 8-10 summit are expected to focus on the state of the world economy, financial regulation, climate change and trade and development.

Tokyo will propose establishing principles and citing best practice to promote responsible investment in agriculture to cope with farmland acquisition or "land grabs" in developing countries, Suzuki said.

"Agriculture investment in developing countries should not be done because of trying to avoid tough environmental standards in industrial nations," Suzuki said, noting that Japan has been getting support for this initiative from G8 counterparts.

By taking the lead on this proposal, Japan -- the world's largest net food importer -- also hopes to gain support from farming that may have been hurt by irresponsible investment by foreign countries and companies, for Japanese firms' overseas investment in agriculture , he said.

On a call by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the G8 to discuss regulating oil prices to prevent the wild swings of recent years, Suzuki said G8 officials have not been discussing it for the summit's agenda.

"Realistically, it would be hard to maintain oil prices at certain levels by intervening in the market. Japan thinks the most important thing would be to boost transparency of the market to avoid speculative moves," he said.

(Editing by Michael Watson)