G20 Finance Ministers Meet: Nirmala Sitaraman represents India

On March 31, 2020, Nirmala Sitaraman represented India to attend the second G20 Finance Minister Meet. The virtual meet was chaired by Saudi Arabia.

Highlights

During the first Extraordinary Virtual meet, the finance ministers of the member countries decided to meet on a regular basis. The ministers are currently in the process of framing a “G20 Action Plan” in response to COVID-19.

Suggestions made by India

India made prompt interventions to review using IMF toolkits. Rather, India suggested to develop indigenous tool kits. India also suggested to make bilateral swap arrangements.

Background

The G20 leaders recently met under the chairmanship of the Saudi king. PM Modi represented India at the video conferencing. The leaders pledged to invest 5 trillion USD into the Global Economy. This was done to reduce the global recession induced by the Lock Down imposed in several countries due to the threat of COVID-19.

Later a ministerial level video conferencing was held that was attended by Union Minister Piyush Goyal. India pushed for affordable access to drugs during the meet.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2020