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Press Release - Meetings of Finance Minister Shri. Arun Jaitley in Washington, DC

Washington, DC
October 6, 2016

Shri Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister Chaired the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ Meeting on 06th October, 2016 held at IMF Headquarters in Washington D.C. During the meeting, two important issues- the ‘Economics of Climate Change and Financing Climate Adaptation and Mitigation’; and ‘International Taxation-a Commonwealth Conversation Around the Panama Papers’ were discussed and deliberated. In the presence of the Finance Minister, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of Baroda signed an MoU on Commonwealth Small States Trade Finance Facility. This finance facility is expected to make available upto US $100 million of incremental trade finance over a period of three years. During the meeting, as part of the voluntary contributions, India also pledged £1,022,100 to Commonwealth Fund for technical cooperation.

2.         The Finance Minister also chaired the Governing Council Meeting of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). While addressing the gathering, the FM announced that the CRA is now operational and BRICS member central banks are fully ready to carry out the transactions. Members welcomed the proposal to formalize the setting up of a network of central banks research units that will support the working of BRICS CRA. At the meeting, the Finance Minister also extended invitation to attend BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting to be held in Goa later this month.

3.         The Finance Minister attended the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Working Dinner where discussions centered around the global outlook, key risks for the global and national economies and the proposals made by the Global Forum and the Financial Action Task Force to improve implementation of the beneficial ownership standard.

4.         During the course of the day, the Finance Minister also held a number of bilateral meetings with British Secretary of State, US Treasury Secretary, Finance Minister of Bhutan, Finance Minister of Bangladesh, and CEO of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The bilateral trade and investment ties were the focal point of each of these meetings for ensuring greater economic cooperation.

5.         On the side-lines of the Fund Bank meetings, Secretary(EA) also participated in a panel discussion organized by Morgan Stanley, to deliberate upon the ‘Cyclical and Structural Progress in the Emerging Market Economies’, wherein he spoke about the fiscal consolidation and economic reform path being undertaken in India.

6.         The Finance Minister is currently on official tour to Washington to attend the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and other associated meetings. He is accompanied by Dr.Urijit Patel, Governor RBI, Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Secretary Economic Affairs, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor and other officials.