India is hosting the next Ministerial meeting of the Group of
20 under the chairmanship of India's Minister of Finance and Companies
Affairs, Shri Jaswant Singh on November 23 in New Delhi. The Ministerial
meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the Deputies on November
22, 2002 chaired by Finance Secretary, Dr. S. Narayan.
Established in 1999, the Group of 20 (G-20) comprises
Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of 19 developed and
emerging economies, the European Union and the Bretton Woods institutions,
such as, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The
forum was set up by G-7 to "establish an informal mechanism for
dialogue among systematically important countries within the framework
of the Bretton Woods institutional system." The G-20 thus promotes
discussion, studies and reviews policy issues among industrialized
and emerging economies with a view to promoting international
financial stability.
Member countries of the G-20 forum include: Argentine
Republic, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, People's Republic of China, Republic
of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Republic of
South Africa, Republic of Turkey, Russian Federation, United Kingdom
and United States of America. The European Union Presidency, the
Managing Director of the IMF and the President of the World Bank
as also the Chairpersons of the International Monetary and Financial
Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and the World Bank
fully participate in the discussions.
Over two days, the meeting will discuss issues
crucial for international financial stability, such as, crisis
prevention and resolution, globalisation, combating financing
of terror and development and aid.
On November 22, finance and central bank deputies
will discuss and recommend the agenda for consideration of the
finance ministers and central bank governors in their meeting
of November 23.
As a precursor to this meeting, the G-20 finance
and central bank deputies of member countries and deputies of
Bretton Woods institutions such as, the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank met in July 2002. They discussed the issues
relating to world economic scenario, globalisation, sovereign
debt restructuring, domestic policy requirements for regeneration
of capital flows, making aid effective, standards and codes for
financial sector regulation and corporate governance as also combating
financing of terror. The agenda for the meeting has evolved on
the basis discussions at the July meeting of the deputies.
