FM leaves for US; to host G20 meeting and attend IMF, World Bank meetings

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be leaving for the US to attend the 2023 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), along with G20 meetings.

During her week-long trip, she will be hosting the second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under India's G20 Presidency and G20-related side events. the finance ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Besides, she will have bilateral meetings, a few investor sessions and other associated meetings during the April 10 to April 16 trip to Washington DC.

Accompanied by officials from the finance ministry, she will attend World Bank Development Committee and IMF Committee Plenaries.

She will have interaction with global Economists, global business leaders, think tanks and investors in roundtables, it said, adding, the minister will also have bilateral engagements with countries and international organisations.

As part of the itinerary, the trip also includes engagement with the Indian Diaspora.

Sitharaman and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das will jointly chair the second G20 FMCBG meeting on April 12-13, 2023.

Around 350 delegates from G20 members, 13 invitee countries, and various international and regional organisations will participate and engage in multilateral discussions centred around a broad spectrum of pressing global issues, it said.

The second G20 FMCBG meeting will comprise of three sessions -- Global Economy and International Financial Architecture; Sustainable Finance, Financial Sector and Financial Inclusion; and International Taxation.

The focus of these sessions will be to deliberate on issues such as addressing food & energy insecurity, managing global debt vulnerabilities, strengthening Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), mobilising finance for climate action, advancing financial inclusion, and accelerating progress on International Tax and Financial Sector issues, it said.

The meeting will take stock of the progress made on outcomes envisaged under India's G20 Finance Track agenda, it said.

This G20 FMCBG meeting will advance efforts towards the preparation of G20 India Finance Track deliverables for the third G20 FMCBG meeting to be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, in July 2023, it said.

These meetings are expected to provide informed Finance Track contributions to the Leaders Declaration set for adoption in the New Delhi Summit in September 2023, it said.

On the sidelines of the Spring Annual Meetings, the finance minister will have bilateral engagements with her respective counterparts from G20 countries and heads of other delegations, including major international organisations, to discuss issues and areas of mutual interest and cooperation under India's G20 Presidency.

In the course of her visit, she will also participate in a fireside chat at the Peterson Institute of International Economics (PIIE) on April 10, 2023.

In a high-level meeting on April 11, Sitharaman will meet US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to discuss issues of mutual interest.

During the official visit, it said, a meeting of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable will be co-chaired by India, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank on April 12, to discuss the current global debt landscape and ways to address existing challenges in debt restructuring.

A high-level seminar on 'Macro-financial implications of Crypto assets' will be held on April 14 to review the macro-financial implications of Crypto Assets and discuss policies to leverage benefits and contain risks, it added.

Sitharaman will also meet the G20 Expert Group on strengthening MDBs on April 15, to discuss the need for an updated MDBs ecosystem for the 21st century towards financing sustainable development goals and transboundary challenges.

Besides these, the finance minister will also participate in a high-level seminar on 'Stacking up the benefits of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)' organised by the IMF on April 14.

The seminar aims to discuss lessons from India and other countries on the transformational power of DPI and ways to maximise its potential, it said.

Other side events that will be held on the margins of the IMF-WB Spring Meetings include an event on 'Enhancing the Economic Empowerment of Women as Entrepreneurs and Leaders' (April 13), 'LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) event on Behavioral Change to Tackle Climate Change' (April 14), and 'Launch of debt restructuring negotiation process on Sri Lanka' (April 13), among others.