Observing that the speed of the global economic recovery was not enough, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the G-20 countries — a grouping of the top 20 economies of the world — has a crucial role to play in the post-crisis period.
The future role of G-20, of which India is an important member, in the global economy was the key issue of discussion when Singh met US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper, on the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit here.
The two-day summit attended by 47 countries concluded on Tuesday.
“I had fruitful discussions with President Obama on a host of issues relating to our bilateral relations, the regional situation, and the world economy,” Singh said.
“My discussions with President Sarkozy, Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Harper focused largely on the future role of the G-20 in the post-crisis phase of the global economic recovery. I will be visiting Canada for the next G-20 Summit in June,” Singh told reporters at a news conference winding the Washington-leg of his foreign travel.
Noting that G-20 constituted an important part of his bilateral discussions, Singh said it mostly related to the future work program of the G-20.
“This was an exchange of views as to how the work of the G-20 should proceed in the months and years to come,” he said.
The prime minister said the world was now witnessing a recovery, though the speed of recovery was still slow.
“There is still a question mark with regard to the working out of a framework for sustainable recovery and also the reform of international institutions, including the Security Council and the Bretton Woods institutions, the working of the financial system, the need for regulation, whether one size fits all or there should be allowance for different stages of development,” he said.
“These are all issues that have to be taken on board and I expressed our concern about these issues,” Singh said.
