TOKYO: Finance ministers of the Group of Seven key industrial countries in a regular teleconference on Wednesday affirmed their cooperation in supporting low-income nations with weak financial bases to help them deal better with the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic "has exacerbated existing debt vulnerabilities in many low-income countries, highlighting the importance of debt sustainability and transparency to long-term financing for development," the ministers said in a joint statement issued after the teleconference.

"We continue to work together to advance the international economic response" to the epidemic, "with a focus on the poorest and most vulnerable countries," and "remain committed to assisting low-income countries" in their fight against the crisis, the ministers said.

They also pledged to keep working closely with member economies of the Group of 20 framework, the Paris Club of creditor nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and others "to secure debt sustainability and transparency, including promoting timely creditor coordination and fair burden sharing.”

The G7 teleconference took place at a time when the international community faces the need to fully support developing nations with poor medical systems and fragile financial foundations in order to prevent any further spread of the epidemic.

In their talks in April, finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the G20 advanced and emerging economies agreed on a temporary moratorium on debt repayments by developing countries.

In Wednesday's session, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said that the G7 countries should steadily put the moratorium in place.

The G7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union.

In the teleconference, the G7 ministers also discussed a proposal to establish a global system for the integral management of patents for drugs to treat patients of the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus.

"We have made major progress, so we need to advance talks further on the matter," Aso told reporters after the teleconference, showing his ministry's readiness to work with the health and foreign ministries to speed up coordination both in and outside of Japan.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently said that the G7 summit talks planned this month would be postponed to September or later while signaling his intention to expand the G7 framework to include Australia, India, Russia and South Korea.

Aso refrained from making specific comments on the US leader's suggestion of the potential G7 membership expansion, saying only, "We are not at a stage to say whether it's good or bad."

JIJI Press