Washington: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the G20 has immense potential to work towards the “global good”, emphasising the need to strengthen existing multilateral institutions and affirmed India’s commitment to third-generation reforms that are being implemented.
Sitharaman, who was in the United States to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, touched upon the challenges faced by global communities due to external factors and said that many such issues will come up at the G20, the premier forum for international economic cooperation, during India’s presidency.
“You need new institutions, please do… From the lessons learned from how these [existing institutions] have become less effective, we need to make them more effective as well,” she said during a conversation with economist Eswar Prasad on ‘India’s Economic Prospects and Role in the World Economy’, organised by The Brookings Institution as part of its State of the Global Economy and Global Governance event.
India will hold the G20 presidency from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023 at a time when the Covid-battered global economy faces acute headwinds due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has disrupted supply chains, making food and fuel unaffordable to many countries.
Multilateral institutions “need to be robust and strengthened in order to give solutions” to the global problems, she said, adding that these institutions should become “voices of emerging markets” for the global good.
Sitharaman said the Modi government is also focused on bridging the regional divide, with the Northeast, which was largely ignored during previous regimes, being aligned with the mainstream. “Northeast, I think, I will dare say this … the prominence that Northeast has been given by the current government between 2014 and now is one of the most exhaustive,” she said.
She also highlighted disruptions in global food and fuel supplies and their rising costs impacting fertiliser prices, one of the key inputs for millions of Indian farmers. “There are things happening outside, which are definitely hitting us…,” she said.
Sitharaman invites US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to India
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Washington D.C., during which she invited the latter to visit India next month.
During their meeting, Sitharaman and Yellen discussed the current global macroeconomic situation among other issues of mutual interest, the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.
“The two Ministers also discussed various issues of significance with a view towards India’s upcoming G20 Presidency,” it said.
After the meeting, Sitharaman invited Yellen to India in November to attend the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting, the Ministry added.
This will be Yellen’s first visit to India as Treasury Secretary.
Also taking to Twitter, the Treasury Secretary said: “I was pleased to welcome Minister Sitharaman back to the US Treasury today to discuss deepening economic bonds between the U.S. and India, avoiding costly supply chain disruptions, and addressing global shocks.”
