With an eye on G20, Sitharaman steps up engagements in Washington DC
With India taking over the G20 presidency at the end of the year, the country’s diplomatic and policy focus has been on engaging widely with all members of the grouping.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hosted a breakfast meeting of G20 finance ministers on Thursday morning in Washington DC, participated in a working dinner of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors on Wednesday night, and held a series of bilateral conversations with her counterparts from G20 countries on Wednesday.
Sitharaman, who is in Washington DC to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, met her counterparts from Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, and Egypt. From the neighbourhood, she met her counterpart from Bhutan. She also engaged with multilateral institutions and met the head of the Financial Action Task Force, the United Nations Development Programme, and OECD.
13 finance ministers from key G20 countries, including the United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, attended the breakfast meeting, but the nature of the discussions were not made public.
With India taking over the G20 presidency at the end of the year, the country’s diplomatic and policy focus has been on engaging widely with all members of the grouping to ascertain their areas of priority, give a sense of India’s objectives and agenda, and discuss ways to build convergence in a geopolitically challenging period, said a person familiar with the development.
Indonesia, which is this year G20 chair and is hosting the Bali summit, is understood to be struggling to get all countries to arrive at a consensus on outcome documents. With tensions between the West and Russia intensifying, convening all members in the same room has been a challenge too. India believes it can bring its unique position and set of relationships with all major G20 countries to bear as it takes over as chair.
On Wednesday, the FM’s engagements began with a meeting with Japan’s finance minister Shunichi Suzuki. According to the ministry of finance, she told her counterpart that this was a special year, as both countries were marking 70 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties and India was celebrating 75 years of Independence. She also said that 2023 will bring the greatest responsibilities for both, as India takes over the G20 presidency and Japan takes over the G7 presidency. “The two ministers also discussed key agenda pertaining to #IndoPacific economic cooperation,” the ministry tweeted.
Sitharaman then met South Korea’s deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, Choo Kyung-ho. The FM discussed “possibilities for #G20 finance in 2023 and sought South Korea’s support for #G20 India 2023 presidency”, according to a ministry tweet. She also invited him for the sixth India-South Korea finance ministers meeting.
The FM’s next engagement was with Saudi Arabia’s minister of state for finance, Mohammed Al Jadaan. “The ministers discussed several economic and financial issues, along with matters of India-Saudi bilateral cooperation,” the ministry of finance tweeted. While it did not elaborate further, the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production has generated uncertainty in global energy markets and energy was likely to have figured in the conversation.
Sitharaman also met her counterpart from the Netherlands, Sigrid Kaag. India had invited Netherlands as a guest country during its G20 presidency, and the FM said she looked forward to engaging with Netherlands in the G20 process. “Discussions covered several agenda items related to #G20, such as #GlobalPublicGoods, #Debt & #Climate issues,” the ministry tweeted.
Sitharaman also met Egypt’s minister of international cooperation, Rania A Al Mashat. According to the finance ministry, the two leaders exchanged views on renewable energy and underlined the importance of mobilising adequate resources for climate finance. India and Egypt also agreed to “work in close cooperation” as Egypt hosts COP27 and India takes over as the G20 chair. Delhi’s engagement with Cairo has increased in recent months, with defence minister Rajnath Singh paying a visit last month and external affairs minister S Jaishankar heading there for a bilateral visit.
In discussions with OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, the FM and Cormann discussed their engagements and OECD’s support for India’s G20 presidency. With UNDP administrator, Achim Steiner, Sitharaman, according to the finance ministry, highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for sustainable ecosystems launched through the global initiative, Lifestyle for Environment, or LiFE. This will also be a focus area during India’s presidency of G20. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is visiting India this month to mark the initiative along with PM Modi.
Sitharaman also met Raja Kumar, the president of the Financial Action Task Force but the finance ministry or her office offered no details on the nature of the discussions.
