G20 meeting: FM arrives in Sydney

Finance Minister P Chidambaram arrived here on Saturday to attend the two-day G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors during which he is expected to press for expeditious reforms in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), among other things.

He is also expected to raise the issue of automatic sharing of tax information and greater transparency in the US Fed’s tapering operations. Besides the minister, the Indian delegation at the G20 ministerial comprises Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan and senior officials of the Finance Ministry including Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram. Among other things, Chidambaram will be raising issues relating to global economy, investment, financial regulations and infrastructure financing. He is also expected to press for a common vision for promoting sustainable global growth.

Chidambaram will be holding bilateral meetings with his counterparts from G20 group, a club of rich and developing nations.

The outcomes of the G20 ministerial will finally be endorsed by the leaders' summit to be held in Brisbane on November 15-16.

During the meeting, Chidambaram will be participating in separate sessions on financial reforms, global standard on automatic exchange of information and tax agenda.

At the meeting of the Finance and Central Bank Deputies yesterday, Mayaram made a strong case for expediting International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota reform to give greater voting power to emerging economies.

He had also pressed for transparency in withdrawal of monetary stimulus popularly called tapering, by the US Federal Reserve.

Mayaram, during his intervention, had underlined the need for including tax avoidance besides tax evasion as part of the overall global tax agenda.

The G20 is scheduled to come out with a communique on Sunday reflecting the broad consensus expected to emerge during the two-day deliberations of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

Besides the G20 meetings, Chidambaram will be deliberating with senior functionaries of the New South Wales Government and representatives of major financial institutions, besides holding a round table meeting with business leaders. His programme also includes addressing an investors' meet in the city.

The Finance Minister will leave for India on February 25.