G20 Finance Track to kickstart from tomorrow; infra, sustainable finance on agenda

The G20 Finance Track meetings under India’s presidency will start on Tuesday (December 13). The deliberations would include various matters of global relevance including infrastructure development, sustainable finance, global health, international taxation and financial sector issues.

India assumed the G20 presidency on December 1 from Indonesia. The G20 Leaders’ Summit will be held in New Delhi in September 2023.

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The first G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD) meeting, jointly hosted by the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is scheduled to be held during December 13-15 in Bengaluru, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. The meeting will be co-chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth and RBI’s Deputy Governor Michael D Patra.

Their counterparts from G20 member countries, and from several other nations and international organisations invited by India, will participate in the meeting. The G20 Finance Track discusses key issues of relevance for the global economy, encompassing the global economic outlook, the international financial architecture, infrastructure development and financing, sustainable finance, global health, international taxation and financial sector issues, including financial inclusion, it added.

The discussions at the meeting in Bengaluru will focus on the agenda for the Finance Track under the Indian G20 Presidency. This includes reorienting international financial institutions to meet the shared global challenges of the 21st century, financing cities of tomorrow, managing global debt vulnerabilities, advancing financial inclusion and productivity gains, financing for climate action and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a globally coordinated approach to unbacked crypto assets and advancing the international taxation agenda.

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A panel discussion will be held on Strengthening Multilateral Development Banks to Address Shared Global Challenges of the 21st Century on the sidelines of the meeting. A seminar on the Role of Central Banks in Green Financing will also be held.

“Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) in his address at the Bali G20 Summit said that the need today is that the benefits of development are universal and all-inclusive. The Ministry of Finance has imbibed this idea in the G20 Finance Track agenda,” Seth said.

“The prime minister has also given us a vision that India will strive to ensure that the G20 acts as a global ‘prime mover’ to envision new ideas and accelerate collective action over the next one year,” Seth added.

The G20 Finance Track, led by finance ministers and central bank governors of G20 countries, focuses on economic and financial issues. It provides an effective forum for global economic discourse and policy coordination. The First Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting will be held during February 23-25 in Bengaluru. The Indian G20 Presidency’s theme of ‘One Earth One Family, One Future’ will guide the G20 Finance Track discussions. Approximately 40 meetings of the Finance Track will be held in several locations in India, which include meetings of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, he said, adding the discussions in the G20 Finance Track will ultimately be reflected in the G20 Leaders Declaration.

India has assumed the G20 presidency at a time of multiple challenges, which include scarring from the COVID-19 pandemic, sharpened geopolitical tensions, rising food and energy security concerns, growing debt distress, inflationary pressures and monetary tightening, among others, the Finance Ministry said, stressing that a key role of the G20 is to provide guidance in dealing with such challenges.

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The government has said that supporting countries which are most in need and reflecting the concerns and aspirations of developing countries will be at the forefront of the G20 efforts during India’s presidency.

“The Finance Ministry and the RBI will steer the G20 Finance Track agenda in an inclusive manner aimed at addressing the global economic needs of today as well as preparing for a better tomorrow,” it added.