The head of the Munich Security Conference said he is in favour of enlarging the G7 group of major industrialised democracies for the forum to remain relevant.

“I think it is important that the G7 group expands,” Christoph Heusgen said in Berlin on Thursday.

He added: “The group is characterised by the fact that it is about countries that share common values. They are democratic, market-economy countries.

“But we also see that the relative weight, especially the economic weight of these countries is decreasing. For this reason, I think an expansion would be logical,” he said.

He said countries such as South Korea and Australia could join to “increase the clout” of the format.

Heusgen chairs the Munich Security Conference, which gathers together world leaders and high-ranking defence and foreign policy officials every year in the Bavarian city.