Nirmala Sitharaman to attend World Bank and G20 meetings in Morocco

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will leave for Morocco on October 10 on an official visit to attend the G20 meetings as well as the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Finance Minister will also hold bilateral meetings with Indonesia, Morocco, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany and France during the visit, which is scheduled to be held in Marrakesh from 11-15 October, apart from other related meetings.

Finance ministers and central bankers from around the world will participate in the annual meetings. The Indian delegation will be led by the Finance Minister and will include officials from the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India. Finance Minister Nirmala and RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will co-chair the 4th G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meeting, in which 65 delegations from G20 countries, invited countries and international organizations will participate in multilateral discussions.

The fourth G20 FMCBG meeting will discuss ways to strengthen multilateral development banks (MDBs) to address the common challenges of the 21st century and will also raise the issue of crypto assets. During the meeting, Volume 2 of the report on strengthening MDBs by the Independent Expert Group will also be released. Volume 1 was released during the 3rd FMCBG held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The heads of the Indian G20 Presidency, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will co-chair the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable on 12 October 2023, on the sidelines of the 4th G20 FMCBG Meeting. The roundtable will discuss the progress made on debt restructuring and explore ways. This means supporting the work of the G20 countries.

At a high-level event hosted by the USA Treasury, the Union Finance Minister will participate in a roundtable discussion on IMF policy priorities and how the Institute should support its membership. The Union Finance Minister will participate in the G7 Japan Presidency with the World Bank Group on “Resilient and Inclusive Supply- Will also participate in a discussion on “Partnership for Chain Enhancement” (RISE).

On the sidelines of the IMF-WB Annual Meeting in Marrakesh, the Finance Minister will participate in a discussion on the macroeconomic outlook during the G7 Africa Ministerial Roundtable. Nirmala will be speaking on the topic “MDB Development”, co-hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Center for Global Development. But she will also give a keynote speech in one of the sessions.