Many Indian proposals well supported by G20 countries: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

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Many of India’s proposals have been well supported by the G20 bloc and there has been an active engagement, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after a series of meetings with her counterparts from the influential grouping here.

India assumed the year-long presidency of the G20 in December last year and aims to host a leaders’ summit in New Delhi in early September. The G20 is an important forum of the world’s 20 major developed and developing economies.

Sitharaman met her counterparts from the G20 nations on the sidelines of the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington on Thursday.

“We were very happy to see that most of India’s proposals have been well supported and there has been an active engagement,” she said.

The minister said discussions at the second meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors under India’s presidency spread over three sessions – the global economy, international financial architecture, sustainable finance, financial sector, financial inclusion, and international taxation.

She said the discussions were very intense with a lot of substantive inputs coming from the members.

The meetings saw the participation of around 350 delegates with 13 invitee countries and various international and regional organisations, she said.

Sitharaman said there were six takeaways from the G20 meetings.

First, successful discussion on the debt restructuring and debt vulnerabilities with the hosting of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, she said.

Second is the issue of reforming multilateral development banks, an Indian initiative, which has been very well received, she said.

The acceptance of an expert group where we have two co-conveners, strengthening the multilateral development bank’s issue has received a lot of warmth, she said.

“This expert group is going about its work and hopefully by July, we should have something on the table for the members to discuss it,” Sitharaman said.

The third is climate finance and sustainable financing of climate and climate-related matters, she added.

“Bringing in private finance and ensuring Sustainable Development Goals are also met up. This discussion on climate finance is also moving in a very positive direction.

Not just the current flow, but also the quantum that is required for meeting current climate challenges and also looking at transitional costs, the technology that is so required,” she said.

The fourth takeaway was the global partnership for financial inclusion where digital public infrastructure has found a lot of traction.

“We’ve had discussions in Bengaluru, we are having discussions here as well. Leveraging DPI, which is the digital public infrastructure for achieving global financial inclusion, is a subject which every country has taken a keen interest in and people are looking at how best they can catch up with bringing inclusion through the use of technology,” she said.

Sitharaman said she was very grateful to Singapore for having reconnected the fact that both countries are now in agreement with the cross-border payments.

She said cross-border payement per se has the strength of being one of the very important instruments which can find a good buy-in from all the countries.

“The fifth one I would put as of today a possible takeaway is the international taxation issue, which was earlier discussed so that we achieve a fair sustainable and modern international tax system that was also discussed among members today,” the minister said.

“The two-pillar international tax package which was agreed upon in October 2021, swift implementation has been called for by all members. The progress that we’re making in this area is also to bring in greater transparency in trial international tax reforms,” she said.

The last and sixth one is the general consensus on regulations related to crypto assets, Sitharaman said.

“The discussion on crypto also highlighted the fact that it’s not going to be confined to one part of the world. Its implications can affect emerging market economies as well.

“So even as we’re talking about crypto, the impact that it can have on developed economies and the impact it can have on emerging markets. developing economies have also been taken on board,” Sitharaman said.