Event reports
Since the unfolding of the global financial crisis, the G20 forum has played a significant role in coordinating international macroeconomic policies to revive the world economy. There have been initiatives such as the commitment towards fiscal consolidation plans in advanced countries enshrined in the G20 Toronto Declaration. The Leaders’ Declaration at the Seoul Summit reiterated the reform of international financial institutions and enhanced efforts of reducing the global economic imbalances.
While the recovery of the world economy gains momentum - though at a pace which differs substantially across countries - the attention of the G-20 has shifted towards addressing the causes of the financial crisis.
In this context and in anticipation of the forthcoming G-20 summit to be held in November 2011 in Cannes, the third G-20 conference was organized in New Delhi and addressed the following topics:
•Financial Sector Regulatory Reforms
•Indicative Guidelines for Reducing Global Imbalances
•The International Monetary System
•Capital Flows Volatility and Financial Safety Nets
•Development Agenda: The Way Forward
•Commodity Markets and Food Security
India’s views – being a member of the Group of 20 and the big economic powerhouse next to USA, China and the EU – on how to overcome global challenges with regard to ongoing problems caused by the economic and financial crisis are increasingly recognized and welcomed.
Although India was not as much affected by the crisis as other leading and emerging economies, the moderation of global growth and a continuing slower growth of emerging economies will eventually have also a stronger impact on the growth aspects of the Indian economy; an impact which will be stronger felt than in comparison to the pre-crisis period.
The interconnectedness of global problems was also addressed by the Indian Finance Minister Panab Mukherjee in his keynote address on the first day of the G20-conference. The Finance Minister emphasized the fact that growth figures had declined in most advanced economies in the second half of 2011 and that emerging economies are facing both a moderation of growth and a rising inflation. The Finance Minister is therefore calling for a collective effort to overcome the ongoing challenges. He reiterated the fact that local growth drivers in emerging markets are necessary to rebalance the global financial system. Furthermore, he highlighted the fact that global economic reforms that foster global sustainable growth are the most urgent issues to be dealt with at the moment.
The conference also focused on bringing clarity to new areas of reform while continuing the dialogue on the still-pressing issues of stabilization and rebalancing thrown up by the economic crisis.
The aim was to gather leading academicians and policymakers from different G-20 countries to discuss and debate the key reform proposals. It is hoped that the result of these deliberations would serve as useful policy inputs to the leaders participating in the Cannes Summit.