G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, participated in the G7 Trade Ministers’ meeting held at Villa San Giovanni, Reggio Calabria, Italy. This significant gathering provided a crucial platform for discussions on boosting global trade relations and fostering economic cooperation. On the sidelines, Minister Goyal engaged in high-level bilateral meetings with his international counterparts, reinforcing India’s dedication to building robust economic partnerships worldwide.
Key Bilateral Meetings
During the event, Shri Goyal met with Antonio Tajani, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The discussions centered on enhancing bilateral trade and investments, industrial co-production, and cooperation in clean technologies. Minister Goyal praised Mr. Tajani for organizing a productive meeting. He also engaged with Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, exploring opportunities to strengthen India-EU trade collaborations and progress on FTA negotiations.
Shri Goyal’s dialogue with New Zealand’s Trade Minister, Mr. Todd McClay, focused on expanding bilateral trade and investment ties. Additionally, he congratulated Mr. Jonathan Reynolds, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and discussed advancing the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Conversations with Dr. Robert Habeck, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs & Climate Action, highlighted the upcoming Inter-Governmental Consultations and Asia-Pacific Conference of German Businesses in Delhi.
Strengthening Global Supply Chains
Minister Goyal emphasized the importance of analyzing the robustness of global supply chains in crises, referencing recent challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the Red Sea crisis. He highlighted efforts by various countries to build resilient supply chains through platforms such as the G20 Generic Framework for Mapping GVCs, the 14-member IPEF association, Trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), and the India-EU TTC.
India’s initiatives with strategic partners, including the US, GCC countries, and the EU, were discussed, with a focus on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and enhancing multimodal connectivity for seamless supply chains integrated with markets and logistics.
