Finance Minister Sitharaman to visit US for WB-IMF Spring Meetings, G20 meet and bilateral discussions

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman will be visiting the US from April 10, 2023 to attend the 2023 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She will also be taking part in G20 meetings, Investor/ Bilateral meetings, and other associated meetings in the WBG and IMF Headquarters in Washington DC during the visit from April 10 to April 16, 2023. The Spring Meetings will be attended by Finance Ministers and Central Bankers from across the world, India’s Ministry of Finance said, announcing details of the visit on Saturday. The Indian delegation will include officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to the ministry, Union Finance Minister Sitharaman’s engagements will include: 1. Spring Meetings of IMF-WB. 2. Hosting the Second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency and G20-related side events. 3. World Bank Development Committee and IMF Committee Plenaries. 4. Interaction with Global Economists and Think-Tanks, 5. Bilateral engagements with countries and international organisations; 6. Interaction with global business leaders and investors in roundtables; and 7. Engagement with the Indian Diaspora. 2nd G20 FMCBG MEETING Finance Minister Sitharaman and RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will jointly chair the 2nd G20 FMCBG meeting on April 12-13, 2023. About 350 delegates from G20 members, 13 invitee countries, and various international and regional organisations will participate in multilateral discussions centred around a broad spectrum of pressing global issues. The 2nd G20 FMCBG meeting will comprise three sessions: 1. Global Economy and International Financial Architecture; 2. Sustainable Finance, Financial Sector and Financial Inclusion; and 3. International Taxation According to the official release from the Ministry of Finance, the focus of these sessions will be to deliberate on issues like 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. The meeting will take stock of the progress made on outcomes envisaged under India’s G20 Finance Track agenda. The 2nd G20 FMCBG meeting will also advance efforts towards the preparation of G20 India Finance Track deliverables for the 3rd G20 FMCBG meeting to be held in Gandhinagar, India, in July 2023. 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. SERIES OF HIGH-LEVEL ENGAGEMENTS & DISCUSSIONS 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, the Union Finance Minister 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, 2023, the Finance Minister will meet the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to discuss issues of mutual interest. On April 12, a meeting of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable will be co-chaired by India, the IMF and the World Bank. The meeting will discuss the current global debt landscape and ways to address existing challenges in debt restructuring. The next day, on April 14, a high-level seminar on ‘Macro-financial implications of Crypto assets’ will be held to review the macro-financial implications of Crypto Assets and discuss policies to leverage benefits and contain risks. On the same day, the Finance Minister will participate in a high-level Seminar on ‘Stacking up the benefits of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)’ organised by the IMF on April 14, 2023. The seminar aims to discuss lessons from India and other countries on the transformational power of DPI and ways to maximise its potential. Finance Minister Sitharaman will also meet the G20 Expert Group on strengthening MDBs on April 15 and discuss the need for an updated MDBs ecosystem for the 21st century towards financing sustainable development goals and transboundary challenges. 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, 2023), ‘LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) event on Behavioral Change to Tackle Climate Change’ (April 14, 2023), and ‘Launch of debt restructuring negotiation process on Sri Lanka’ (April 13, 2023), the Ministry of Finance said.