All eyes will be on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, co-chairing India’s Presidency in the G20 Finance Minister Central Bank Governor (FMCBG) meeting, when she will arrive for press conference on Tuesday evening. The global community would be interested in knowing whether she will present communique, outcome statement or chair summary at the end of two days Ministerial meeting.
Meanwhile, in her opening address on Monday, Sitharaman called for coordinated international efforts needed to deal with food & energy insecurity, climate change. The meeting is co-chaired by Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Shaktikanta Das and attended by Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors of G20 nations beside invited nations and heads of multilateral agencies.
Four key issues
The meeting is deliberating upon four key issues: Multilateral development bank (MDB) reforms, crypto asset regulations, debt & sustainability, and digital public infrastructure.
Officials say while there is widespread acknowledgement of India’s presidency and its effort in arriving at some solutions, however, there are still some issues to be resolved. For example, there have been no consensus on use of words related with impact of Russia-Ukraine war on global economy which may impact the issuance of communique.
In fact, the first meeting of FMCBG failed to adopt a communique as Russia and China did not agree on a paragraph relating to condemning the war. Rather, the meeting ended with the issuance of the G20 Chair’s summary and outcome document that gave an insight on what was agreed upon and a roadmap for the future. Now this time too, no one is ready to give an affirmation. However, sources said that this time is down on war impact. “The acrimony on war is much cooler this time,” a source said.
Outcome statement
Another source said the effort would be to go for an outcome statement rather than a chair summary, in case a consensus could not be reached on the communique. In diplomacy language, an outcome statement is considered effective messaging as it brings about all the agreed points together while covering the issues which are not agreed upon.
On Monday, in her opening remarks, Sitharaman highlighted that the global economic growth is below its long-term average and remains uneven.
Keeping this in mind, “We need coordinated international efforts to navigate this challenging period. In this context, the G20 framework Working Group explored the issue of tackling macroeconomic challenges related to food and energy insecurity, and those related to climate change and transition pathways,” she said.
Sitharaman invoked Mahatma Gandhi by using his quote: “the future depends on what we do in the present.” She emphasised that this statement powerfully conveys the responsibility “we have as finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 countries to steer the global economy towards a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive group.”
Moving on to the global health agenda in 2023 with the goal of amplifying the voices of low-income countries, the multi-year work plan of the Joint Finance and Health Task Force was adopted, supported by the guidance from regional organisations, she said. Based on the mandate provided in the February meeting of FMCBG, she said the various work streams of the G20 Finance track have now come out with their deliverables.
Three significant deliverables have been prepared including the framework on economic risks and vulnerabilities, the report on best practices on financial health and institutional arrangements and the report on mapping pandemic response financing options and gaps, she said.