Sitharaman says India shall become voice of low and middle-income countries as it assumes G20 presidency

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured that sustainable development goals (SDG) for low, and middle-income economies and ways of financing them will be India’s priorities during its tenure of the G20 presidency. 

Sithraman was addressing the 14th Annual International G20 Conference session on Tuesday organized by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. 

She said, “India's very carefully maintaining its position and voicing for the emerging markets, voicing for the low and middle-income countries and trying to make sure all our voices are heard.” 

The finance minister identified some of the major issues that would be addressed by India under G20, some of which include addressing debt distress, climate finance, and sustainable development goals, among others. 

“We have to understand how multilateral institutions, international financing institutions, are going to be better-reformed institutions. Are they going to serve with better vigour, have they become fatigued out, do they have newer thoughts, are they looking at 21st-century ways of leveraging the funds they have?” added Sitharaman. 

She stressed on the fact that how the reform of institutions like the UN, IMF, and World Bank is needed to ensure the sustainable development goal is achieved across various economies. 

The finance minister assured that the process of financing SDGs should be a lot more friendly towards lower-income and developing countries.   

Some of the other topics on the agenda are likely to be addressing debt distress and spillovers, climate finance, urban infrastructure, and financial inclusions. 

India is conducting several G20-related meetings in different cities during its presidency of the grouping that will begin on December 1, 2022, and continue till November 30, 2023.  

The G20 Leaders’ Summit will be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 in 2023.  

The G20, or Group of Twenty, is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies, comprising 19 countries like Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA and the European Union (EU).