New Delhi, June 8 -- Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney, while highlighting India's economic stature and strategic role in global supply chains, said that the country's presence is "essential" at the upcoming G7 Summit.

"It made sense," Carney said, "to have India, the fifth largest economy, at the G7 Summit." "There are certain countries that should be at the table for those discussions in my capacity as G7 chair consultation," he said. "India is the fifth largest economy in the world, effectively the most populous in the world central to a number of supply chains, so it makes sense. I extended the invitation to Prime Minister Modi in that context and he has accepted," Carney said on Friday while responding to a question on extending an ...