Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to embark on 6-day visit to Morocco to attend World Bank-IMF meet, G20 FMCBG

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will leave on a six-day official visit to Marrakech, Morocco, on Tuesday, October 10, to attend the World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meeting, along with the G20 FMCBG (Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors) meeting. Other than these meetings, the finance minister also has bilateral meetings with Indonesia, Morocco, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany and France on the planner, that are scheduled to take place on October 11-15, 2023, in Marrakech.

An official statement said on Monday that the Indian delegation for the annual meetings will be led by the Finance Minister, and comprise officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India.

The statement added that during the visit the finance minister and RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will co-chair the fourth G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting.

The G20 FMCBG meeting under India's presidency will witness the participation of 65 delegations from G20 countries, invitee countries, and international organisations in multilateral discussions centred around a broad spectrum of important global issues, it said.

The fourth G20 FMCBG meeting will comprise two sessions - 'Strengthening Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to address shared challenges of the 21st Century' and 'Global Economy and Crypto Assets Agenda'.

During the meeting, it said that Volume 2 of the Report on strengthening MDBs by the Independent Expert Group (IEG) will also be released.

Volume 1 was released during the third FMCBG held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in July.

On the sidelines of the fourth G20 FMCBG meeting, Principals from the Indian G20 Presidency, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank will co-chair the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR) on October 12, 2023.

The roundtable will discuss the progress made on debt restructuring and explore ways and means to support the work of G20 countries, the statement said.

In a high-level event organised by the US Treasury, it said, the Finance Minister will engage in a Roundtable Discussion on "IMF policy priorities and how the institution should support its membership".

She will also participate in a discussion on Partnership for "Resilient and Inclusive Supply-chain Enhancement" (RISE) – with the World Bank Group, organised by the G7 Japan Presidency, it added.

On the margins of the IMF-WB annual meetings in Marrakech, Sitharaman will participate in a discussion on the macroeconomic outlook during a G7 Africa Ministerial Roundtable.

Sitharaman will also give the keynote address at a session on "MDBs evolution", co-hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Center for Global Development (CGD).

During her visit, it said, the Finance Minister will also participate in a roundtable on "Reviving Growth with Inclusivity: Galvanising Private Capital to Support Governments and Multilateral Institutions".

In another high-level event on the sidelines, she will engage in a conversation with the Atlantic Council on India's economic prospects through 2024 and beyond, it said.

Under the G20 India Presidency theme of 'One Earth', 'One Family' and 'One Future', the discussions will continue to build on the key outcomes achieved under the Finance Track of India's G20 Presidency during the G20 Leaders' Summit in September 2023 in New Delhi.

(with Agency Inputs)