A Few Steps Forward at G20 FM Meet, But No Communique

A Few Steps Forward at G20 FM Meet, But No Communique

The meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors ended Tuesday without a joint communique due to divergence over references to the Ukraine war but the Indian hosts said there was strong support for and much progress made on all critical agenda items.

The reform of multilateral development banks (MDBs), climate change finance, crypto assets, global tax framework and digital public infrastructure – the key issues being championed by the India G20 presidency – all saw significant progress, according to the chair summary and outcome document issued.

“The Indian presidency received a lot of support on all the agenda items,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after the two-day meet on Tuesday. “The chair statement is because we still don’t have a common language on the Russia-Ukraine war.”

Since February, India’s position has been that finance ministers do not have the mandate to change the language of the Bali Leaders’ Declaration.

Expert panel’s report

The country feels it should be left to the heads of state and government to take a call on that during the G20 summit in September in New Delhi.

According to the chair summary, China stated that the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) meeting is not the right forum to discuss geopolitical issues.

Russia dissociated itself from the document as a common outcome because of references in paragraphs two, three and five that were taken from the Bali declaration on the war.

Sitharaman said the G20 endorsed a “roadmap” for eventually unlocking “more lending resources in the MDBs”, a key item on India’s G20 agenda.

“We endorse this roadmap (Capital Adequacy Framework) and call for its ambitious implementation, within MDBs’ own,” said the document, adding that the membership was committed to revisiting the adequacy of quotas and will continue the process of International Monetary Framework governance reform.

TIS Staff

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