Sitharaman meets UN Deputy Secretary General, exchanges views on SDGs

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday met United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J Mohammed and exchanged views on financing of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ongoing G20 India Presidency.

"FM Smt. @nsitharaman highlighted the four main agenda of the #G20 #FinanceTrack under #G20India Presidency, i.e., debt distress; #DigitalAssets/currency; strengthening #MDBs; and #DPI Digital Public Infrastructure/ tools," the finance ministry said in a tweet.

During the meeting Sitharaman said a G20 Expert Group on 'Strengthening MDBs' (multilateral development banks) has been constituted to undertake an evaluation of the scale of funding required by low and middle-income developing countries to address the ever-increasing financing gap for SDGs and trans-boundary challenges.

"FM Smt. @nsitharaman observed that #G20 needs to provide momentum for International Financial Institutions #IFIs and #MDBs to step-up to provide adequate financing at affordable terms to enable the developing countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the environment and climate goals," another tweet said.

Mohammed is on a three-day visit to India, during which she is expected to discuss issues such as development and climate action with the leadership here.

Besides, Sitharaman also met Jean-Brice Dumont, executive vice president, Military Aircraft, Airbus Defence and Space, here during the day.