Sitharaman said Japan has invited her to the meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors in May and she is considering attending it.
“We are certainly looking forward to having greater interaction with the Japanese government and because in its capacity as G7 president, we are exploring all the possible areas of cooperation and areas of mutual interest so that we are able to stand together and serve the global requirements as time demands,” she said.
Sitharaman said the two countries continue to have engagement in areas of food security, development finance, climate and energy, environment, digitalisation, disaster risk reduction and health.
“These are topics on which we are specifically engaging with the G7 presidency, so that we can help you take it forward,” she told reporters at a news conference here on Thursday.
Later in the day, the finance minister met her Japanese counterpart Shunichi Suzuki to have a greater understanding of what Japan expects to achieve through the G7 presidency and where India can work together with Tokyo after assuming the G20 presidency.
India assumed the year-long presidency of the G20 in December last year and aims to host a leaders’ summit in New Delhi in early September. The G20 is an important forum of the world’s 20 major developed and developing economies. The international Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Additionally, the European Union (EU) is a “non-enumerated member”.
“We can work together with Japan and achieve greater coordination and synergy between the two groups,” Sitharaman said.
“Japan has also invited India for a dialogue with the partners at the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting which is going to happen on 12th May. As things stand, I propose to go attend that meeting and actively engage with the G7 finance ministers,” she said.
During the meeting with her Japanese counterpart, Sitharaman thanked and acknowledged Japan’s continued support towards achieving goals set under the 20 India Presidency agenda, and conveyed best wishes to him for Japan’s G7 Presidency Summit in May, the finance ministry tweeted.
The finance minister also sought continued cooperation between India and Japan on issues related to common framework, strengthening of multilateral coordination to address increasing debt vulnerabilities, and continued efforts in improving debt transparency.
The two ministers also emphasised and agreed on the need to collaborate as G7 and G20 presidencies on issues of global importance, the finance ministry tweeted.
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