Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Thursday she hopes to work closely with Japan, this year's chair of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, on tackling global issues such as food security, climate change and disaster risk reduction.
"We are exploring all 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," Sitharaman said at a press conference in Washington after a meeting of the Group of 20 major economies that she co-hosted with India's central bank governor, Shaktikanta Das.
Sitharaman said India, which holds the rotating presidency of the group of the world's 20 biggest economies, seeks to achieve "greater coordination and synergy" with the G-7, pointing out that they have been working together on other major issues including development, digitalization and health.
Sitharaman said Japan has invited her to a meeting of the G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors in Niigata next month and that she is prepared to "actively engage" in discussions by then with her counterparts from the major democratic economies, including Britain, Germany and the United States.
