TOKYO - Singapore is one of eight countries to be invited as guests to the Group of 20 (G-20) Summit, which will be held in Osaka in June next year, Japan's Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday (Dec 18).
The summit, which Japan will host from June 28 to 29 in the country's second-largest metropolitan area, will be the 14th meeting of G-20 leaders.
The group comprises the world's 20 largest developed and developing economies which together make up about two-thirds of the world population and account for three-quarters of world trade.
Singapore is not a member of the G-20, but has regularly been invited given its prominent status as a major financial centre and investment hub in Asia.
It has also previously been invited as a representative of the Global Governance Group (3G), an informal group of 30 small and medium-sized countries that aims to promote transparency and inclusivity in the G-20 process.
This year, Singapore was invited to the Buenos Aires summit as a representative of Asean, which the Republic chaired this year.
All in, Singapore has been invited to take part in the G-20 summit and its related processes in 2010 and 2011, as well as in straight meetings from 2013.
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Finance later confirmed the invitation from Japan in a joint press statement released on Thursday (Dec 20).
"Singapore looks forward to working closely with Japan as the 2019 G-20 President, other G-20 members, and invited partners, to achieve a successful outcome at the Meetings and at the Osaka Summit," the statement said, adding that Singapore and Japan enjoy excellent relations and cooperate closely in regional and multilateral fora.
Singapore also looks forward to contributing actively to G-20 discussions, including on the Japanese Presidency's priority areas of promoting a free and open, inclusive and sustainable, "human-centred future society".
The other seven invited countries to next year's Osaka Summit are: Spain, Vietnam, Chile, the Netherlands, Thailand (as Asean chairman), Egypt (as president of the African Union), and Senegal (as president of the New Partnership for Africa's Development).
Nine international organisations have also been invited as guests: the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Financial Stability Board, World Trade Organisation, International Labour Organisation, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Health Organisation, and the Asian Development Bank.
Japan's Foreign Ministry said that its guest list took into account the "relevance to the summit agenda and contributions to the G-20" of the respective countries and organisations.
It said in a statement: "Japan is determined to lead the G-20 Osaka Summit towards success with the goal of achieving both economic growth and reduction of disparities, and contributing to the development agenda and other global issues."
What Japan hopes to realise and promote through the G-20 Summit, the statement added, is a free and open, inclusive and sustainable human-centred society.
The G-20 grouping comprises: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union (EU), France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
