FM Nirmala Sitharaman says multi-lateral institutions need to be strengthened and their capacity to deal with pandemics

Washington: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India will prioritize strengthening multilateral institutions during its year-long presidency of the G-20 group of developed and developing nations. She said, multi-lateral institutions need to be strengthened and their capacity to deal with pandemics or any such future stressful global developments will have to be improved. 

Ms Sitharaman made these remarks at the US think tank. She is in Washington for the annual meetings of IMF and World Bank. Finance Minister said that multilateral institutions existed but problems remained and solutions are not coming through them. India will assume the presidency of the G20 for one year from December



1, 2022, to November 30, 2023. 

Under its Presidency, India is expected to host over 200 G20 meetings across the country, including the G20 Leaders' Summit at the level of heads of state or government which is scheduled to be held on September 9 and 10 next year.

In the context of the G-20 presidency, Ms Sitharaman also highlighted the need for finance to deal with natural disasters. She brought attention to the issue of climate finance. This issue required contributions from developed countries to the fund that will help developing and less developed countries to counter carbon gas emissions, she said.