Goyal condemns terrorism, stresses unity with G7 as Israel crisis soars

By Yoshiaki Nohara

India’s trade chief said his country condemned terrorism and stressed its support for the Group of Seven nations in the wake of the escalating crisis in the Middle East. 

India is “very aligned with the thinking in the G-7,” Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday in Osaka, Japan, at a G-7 trade ministers meeting. The South Asian nation will “continue to support any global effort to wipe out terrorism” and to stop the funding or support for terrorists around the world, he said.  

India and four other non-member nations were invited to the two-day G-7 gathering to discuss supply chain resilience. Goyal’s remarks reflect a close and growing interplay between trade and geopolitical tensions around the world, amid concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could spread. 

“We also believe that the conflict should not escalate and we should try to have a dialogue, and through diplomacy solve the problems,” Goyal said. “India has sent significant humanitarian aid to Palestine and we do believe that our dialogue and diplomacy will help to find a two state coexistence solution between the two parties.”

Goyal spoke at the start of his meeting with Japanese Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who said resilient supply chains are enabled by partnerships among trustworthy nations and cooperation with private companies. Nishimura cited automaker Suzuki Motor Corp.’s investment in India to make electric vehicles and export them to other nations. 

“That’s a future model case, in that a company invests in India and boosts its exports from India to third nations,” Nishimura said. “We’d like to establish strong supply chains with India.”

A joint statement from the G-7 meeting is expected to be released on Sunday.