Karnataka News Desk!!! A two-day G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting ended on Saturday without agreement and a joint communique as member states differed on how to describe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The G20 Chair’s Summary and Outcomes Document was issued in lieu of a joint communique after the meeting ended on Saturday. The meeting began on February 24 in Bengaluru on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Countries such as the US and France sought condemnation of Russia for the aggression, while India wanted to use neutral terminology such as crisis or challenge to describe the situation. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it was absolutely necessary that the communiqué included a condemnation of Russia.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said there was no way for the G20 to go back on a joint statement agreed at a final summit in Bali, Indonesia in November 2022, saying most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine . Russia, which is also a member of the G20 forum, described it as a special military operation. Meanwhile, the meeting called on the international community to step up its efforts to effectively combat money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing to enhance the integrity and resilience of the international financial system.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s summary document observed that there has been a marginal improvement in the global economic outlook since the last meeting in October 2022. The summary document said, however, that global growth remains slow and downside risks to the outlook remain, including high inflation, a resurgence of the pandemic and tighter financing conditions that are increasing credit vulnerability in many emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). can spoil. Sitharaman chaired the two-day meeting here. Since February 2022, we have seen the war in Ukraine adversely impacting the global economy, the document said. This issue was discussed. We reiterated our national position expressed in other fora.
There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions, the document said. Recognizing that the G20 is not a forum to address security issues, we recognize that security issues can have important consequences for the global economy. Several issues were discussed during the two-day meeting. These range from debt relief for poor countries to digital currencies and payments, climate change and financial inclusion.
–IANS
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