TOKYO: Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and his German counterpart, Christian Lindner, on Saturday agreed to closely watch the developments on financial markets and work together over related issues.

At the beginning of their meeting in Tokyo, Suzuki said that the global economy is facing various challenges and that new problems emerged in recent days.

Financial markets have been showing unstable movements recently due mainly to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States and concerns over the health of Swiss banking group Credit Suisse.

Suzuki and Lindner also agreed to cooperate in supporting Ukraine and strengthening the effectiveness of economic sanctions against Russia.

Later on the day, they joined a meeting among Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other ministers from the two countries, the first such intergovernmental talks ever.

Separately, Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura held talks with Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy and climate protection minister. They confirmed that their countries will work together to strengthen the supply chain of mineral resources for ensuring economic security.

JIJI Press