- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday (10) arrived in Washington DC to attend the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and lead the G20 nations 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 in the US include, spring Meetings of IMF 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 also scheduled to address the Indian diaspora in the US capital on Saturday (15) 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 G20 will be to deliberate on issues such as addressing food and energy insecurity, managing global debt vulnerabilities, strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs), 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 US 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 in Washington DC, the finance minister is likely to find some time to go to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for her interaction with the scientist community there.
(PTI)
