First G20 meeting under India's presidency in Dec; FM talks in Feb

The first meeting of the Finance Track of the G20 under India’s leadership would be of central bank deputies and senior-most finance ministry bureaucrats of the member countries, or Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD). The meeting would be held in Bengaluru on December 13-15.

There would be two gatherings in India of what is considered the apex meeting of the Finance Track -- that of finance ministers and central bank governors -- one in February and the other in July 2023. The February meeting would also be held in Bengaluru, it has been learnt.

The Finance Track of the powerful G20 grouping is older than the Sherpa Track, since G20 was formed with the intention of governance of the global economy. There are five working groups in the Finance Track, dealing with issues, such as infrastructure, climate and sustainable infrastructure financing, global taxation, debt levels and sustainability, especially in low-income nations, multilateral institutions, cross-border financial crimes, and regulation of cryptocurrency and other digital assets.

“There will be 35 meetings of the Finance Track in total, of the nearly 200 that will take place in India. The first meeting will be in Bengaluru in December, that of FCBD and equivalent posts,” said a senior official.

Technically, there would be four meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors under India’s chairmanship. However, according to the norm every year, two of them would be held in Washington DC, along with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings, the official said.

Officials from the finance ministry and the ministry of external affairs have been visiting various cities and finalising the hotels, logistics, security, travel arrangements, and meeting venues.

On Wednesday, as the G20 Summit in Bali ended, Indonesia handed over the presidency for the coming year to India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took over the "key" from Indonesian president Joko Widodo, extended the invitation to all the member countries. India will officially assume the presidency on December 1.

While the agenda items have not yet been finalised as Modi said he will consult with other developing nations, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has spoken about the key focus areas of the Finance Track.

Earlier this month, she had said that climate and sustainable development financing, multilateral institution reforms, regulation of digital assets, impact on developing economies from the spillovers of the actions of western central banks, energy and food security against the backdrop of the Ukraine war, and sanctions on Russia and their impact on the global economy, could be the agenda items.

“I think we have to understand how multilateral institutions and 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? Do they know or do they want to bring in greater resources?” the finance minister had stated, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already set the tone of this debate by calling for the reform of institutions like the UN, IMF, and World Bank.