India has drafted a proposal for G20 countries to help debtor countries
Bengaluru:
India on Wednesday reiterated its stand on the war in Ukraine, saying it was time for dialogue and diplomacy, as finance officials of the Group of 20 (G20) began a meeting near the southern city of Bengaluru.
“Today’s age is not for war. Democracy, dialogue and diplomacy are the way forward,” India’s Information Minister Anurag Thakur told a press conference after welcoming delegates to the meeting, which ended on Saturday. Finance ministers and central bank chiefs of G20 countries will attend the meeting on Friday.
The meeting at the Nandi Hills summer retreat is the first major event of India’s G20 chairmanship and is likely to figure prominently in the war proceedings in Ukraine. Friday is the first anniversary of Russia’s attack on its neighboring country.
India has kept a neutral stance on the war, refusing to blame Russia for the invasion, seeking a diplomatic solution and increasing its purchases of Russian oil over the past year.
Russia has been India’s largest supplier of military equipment for decades and is the fourth largest market for the South Asian country’s pharmaceutical products.
“Many countries are eager to speak on the Russia-Ukraine war,” said the deputy governor of the central bank of one of the participating countries, on condition of anonymity.
“Russia itself wants to discuss the economic impact of the sanctions.”
The Russian Embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs are also expected to discuss unblocking debt restructuring for troubled economies, which have been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Reuters reported last week that India has drafted a proposal for G20 nations to help debtor nations by asking lenders, including the world’s biggest sovereign creditor China, to take drastic cuts on debt.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and German Finance Minister Christian Lindner will attend the meetings and are expected to press China to “quickly deliver” on debt relief for low- and middle-income countries.
During the event, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to hold a meeting with the World Bank, India, China, Saudi, the United States and other Group of Seven (G7) countries to reach an understanding on common standards, principles try to achieve. and definitions of distress country debt restructuring.
Regulations on crypto-currencies, reforming multilateral development banks, international taxation and securing adequate finance to combat climate change are also on the agenda of the meetings, which will also be attended by the heads of the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
However, neither the Russian finance minister nor the central bank chief were expected to attend the meeting and will be represented by their deputies.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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