Pranab to meet visiting US treasury secretary

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government will discuss both bilateral as well as global issues with the visiting US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner. Timothy during his two-day visit beginning tomorrow will meet PM Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government will discuss both bilateral as well as global issues with the visiting US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner.

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"We will have bilateral discussion (on various global and bilateral issues)," Mukherjee told reporters, adding that "naturally when we are discussing before of the spring meeting of the IMF, World Bank and G20 all those issue will come."

Geithner during his two-day visit beginning tomorrow will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee. Later in the evening, he would participate in a discussion with Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

On Wednesday, Geithner will hold a roundtable discussion with US financial companies and Indian entrepreneurs in Mumbai to explore successful strategies and business models being utilised in the country to expand banking services to under-serviced areas.

Earlier, delivering a special memorial lecture on the 103rd birth anniversary of Jagjivan Ram, Mukherjee said, the government would have to continue with the affirmative action till there is marked improvement in the condition of the socially backward class.

"For Jagjivan Ram, freedom meant not just change in the colour of leaders from white to black or so it encompassed freedom from political slavery, economic bondage and cultural stagnation," he said.