Nirmala Sitharaman reaches Washington to attend 2023 Spring Meetings of World Bank, IMF

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived in Washington on Sunday (local time) to attend the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund’s 2023 Spring Meetings, as well as other G20 meetings.

Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu greeted her. Sitharaman is in the United States for a week. Union Finance Minister will meet with Finance Ministers and Central Bankers from around the world. The conference is set to take place today at the IMF’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

On April 12, Sitharaman and Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das will co-chair the 2nd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, FMCBG meeting.

The summit will be attended by around 350 participants from G20 members, 13 invitee countries, and numerous international and regional organisations.

They will participate in multilateral discussions centred on a wide range of urgent global challenges. The focus of the meeting will be on solving food and energy insecurity, managing global debt risks, strengthening Multilateral Development Banks, mobilising money for climate action, and speeding progress on International Tax and Financial Sector challenges.

According to the Finance Ministry, the meeting would assess progress towards the goals outlined in India’s G20 Finance Track agenda.

“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. The meeting will take stock of the progress made on outcomes envisaged under India’s G20 Finance Track agenda,” an official release earlier said.

In a high-level meeting on Tuesday, the Finance Minister will meet the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to discuss issues of mutual interest.

Further, a meeting of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable will be co-chaired by India, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank on April 12, 2023, to discuss the current global debt landscape and ways to address existing challenges in debt restructuring.

“On April 14, 2023, 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. Smt. Sitharaman will also meet the G20 Expert Group on strengthening MDBs on April 15, 2023, to discuss the need for an updated MDBs ecosystem for the 21st century towards financing sustainable development goals and transboundary challenges,” the release said.