FM Sitharaman Arrives in Washington to Attend IMF, World Bank Meetings

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived in Washington to attend the annual spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank and lead the G-20 countries in a series of intense interactions over a host of issues facing the world.

Sitharaman, who is leading a high-powered delegation, is scheduled to kick off her public engagements on Monday from the prestigious Peterson Institute for International Economics by speaking on “resilience and growth of the Indian economy” and interacting with the think-tank community.

Among key engagements of the finance minister here include, spring Meetings of International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; hosting the Second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency and G20-related side events; World Bank Development Committee and IMF Committee Plenaries, interaction with global economists and think-tanks, bilateral engagements and interaction with global business leaders and investors in roundtables.

Sitharaman is scheduled to address the Indian diaspora here on Saturday at a reception hosted in her honour by India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

The focus of her various sessions related to G-20 will be to deliberate on issues such as addressing food and energy insecurity, managing global debt vulnerabilities, strengthening Multilateral Development Banks, 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 finance ministry said in a media release.

Sitharaman is likely to meet Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to discuss issues of mutual interest.

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

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.

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.

In between her hectic schedule here in Washington DC, she is likely to find some time to go to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for her interaction with the scientist community there. Even on her last trip here, she had gone to the National Science Foundation headquarters in Alexandria to get a firsthand experience of the research and work being done by the US in the field of science and technology.

As the country’s finance minister, Sitharaman believes that for India to be a developed nation by 2047, a goal set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it needs to invest massively in the field of science and technology, especially in critical and cutting-edge technologies.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)