Sitharaman pitches for strengthening of MDBs to address trans boundary challenges

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday underlined the need for strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs) like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to address trans-boundary challenges.”During the session on ‘Strengthening International Cooperation for Sustainable & Inclusive Growth’, FM Smt. @nsitharaman appreciated the strong cooperation between #G20India & #JapanG7 Presidencies in challenging times to facilitate complementarity of efforts & outcomes,” a finance ministry tweet said.

She stressed the need to strengthen MDBs to address trans-boundary challenges.

“FM Smt.@nsitharaman highlighted the role of investable project pipelines and #resilient #SupplyChains in accelerating financing for #CitiesOfTomorrow and ensuring #SustainableEnergy transition,” she said.

In an earlier session, she stressed the need to go beyond GDP numbers and empower people by improving digital connectivity in developing nations.

Addressing the G7 seminar on economic policies for welfare, in Niigata, Japan, she stressed that technology improves access for the poor to markets and basic services and highlighted that access to digital connectivity has empowered people and there is a need to discuss ways to measure empowerment going beyond GDP indicators.

She underlined the dilemmas faced by Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) between climate security and growth as they manage overlapping crises and socio-economic transformation.

“Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman emphasised on the importance of #SustainableGrowth and environment and the need for balancing the two in the short and long run,” a finance ministry tweet said. “The Union Finance Minister shared India’s focus on #technology #DigitalPublicInfrastructure #DPI #GreenHydrogen as a foundation for #sustainable and #InclusiveGrowth and as an example of innovative #PolicyToolkits by #EMDEs,” another tweet said.

Sitharaman is on a two-day visit (May 11-12) to Japan to attend the G7 meeting of the finance ministers and central bank governors.

During the first session, the finance minister highlighted the resilience of EMDEs and their unique development challenges.

She also shared that India’s strong recovery is a bright spot for the global growth outlook..

The finance minister emphasised the urgent need to improve the efficiency of G20 Common Framework, and strengthen trust and cooperation among all stakeholders for timely debt treatment for vulnerable nations..

During the sidelines of G7 FMCBG, Sitharaman met the first Deputy Managing Managing Director Gita Gopinath.