Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to lead Indian delegation for G20 ministerial meeting in Japan

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will be leading the Indian delegation for the G20 Ministerial meeting on Trade and Digital Economy, which is slated to held on June 8 and June 9, 2019, in Japan.

"The Minister will discuss developments in the global trade situation, WTO matters and digital trade. He will also hold dialogue with other participating Trade Ministers on current international trade and investments. For the first time, Ministers of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Commerce will participate in a joint session on Digital Economy at the G20 Ministerial Meeting," a release of Press Information Bureau (PIB) said.

"The G20 Trade Ministers deliberations will form part of the G20 Summit Leaders agenda in the formal discussions and will also be a part of the Summit Declaration. Ever since G20 was formed India has been actively participating in the meetings. Although there are no binding commitments in G20, it sets the agenda for multilateral trade relations," it read.

This will be Goyal's first visit after assuming charge as Commerce Minister and he will interact with various trade ministers of participating countries including host Japan.

"The Commerce Minister will hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of G20 in order to sensitize India's core interests in trade and investment issues and build coalition with like-minded countries for defending the interests of developing countries," the release read.

G20, for the first time in will witness the participation of over 50 Trade and Digital Economy Ministers to discuss how G20 economies can promote trade and investment and maximize benefits to ensure sustainable growth of the global economy.

"The Trade and Digital Economy meeting is one of the 8 Ministerial meetings taking place in Japan alongside the 2019 G20 Summit. The other seven Ministerial meetings are Agriculture Ministers', Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' meeting, Labour and Employment Ministers' meeting, Tourism Ministers meeting, Ministerial meeting on Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth, Health Ministers' meeting and Foreign Ministers' meeting," the release read.

G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union(EU) including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The G20 members represent two-thirds of the world's people and 85 per cent of its economy.