Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman participated virtually in the Second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the Italian Presidency in New Delhi yesterday to discuss policy responses to global challenges for restoring strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.

Important points of the meeting:-

1. The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors discussed Updates of the G20 Action Plan in response to COVID-19.
2. They also discussed supporting the financing needs of the most vulnerable economies, the progress on the international taxation agenda, promoting greener transitions and the pandemic related financial regulation issues.
3. Ms Sitharaman urged all G20 members to ensure equitable access and widespread distribution of vaccines.
4. The Finance Minister stated that India has covered over 87 million citizens in its vaccination drive so far and has supplied over 64 million doses to 84 countries, including 10 million doses as a grant.
5. She urged the G20 High-Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response to draw upon such country experiences.
6. Ms Sitharaman reflected on the global growth projections and underlined the need for continued coordination amidst the persistence of uncertainties associated with the virus.
7. She said that the G20 Action Plan has served as a good guidance tool and shaping recovery is the mainstay of its current update. 
8. Noting the discourse in the G20 on climate change, the Finance Minister emphasised the need for progress on commitments made under the Paris Agreement on climate finance and technology transfer.
9. Ms Sitharaman suggested that while channelling flows of international financial institutions into green transitions, it should also be recognised that the immediate challenge, particularly for developing and Low-Income Countries, is to restore growth.
10. For boosting support to the most vulnerable economies, the Finance Minister supported extending the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, by six months, till December 2021.

India has swapped with Indonesia to host the G20 summit.

India which was scheduled to host the G20 summit in 2022 will be hosting the same in 2023 and Indonesia will host the 2022 summit instead of 2023. 

It was mutually decided between the countries (India and Indonesia) on hosting the countries. 

G20 Riyadh summit declaration said, "We look forward to our next meetings in Italy in 2021, Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024."

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting today to discuss the global economic outlook and response to COVID-19 crisis along with other G20 nations. 

India as co-chair of the G20 Framework Working Group has ensured that the commitments in G20 Action Plan in response to COVID-19 are updated to keep it relevant and effective as the crisis evolves, Ministry of Finance informed. 

Ms Sitharaman joined G20 Finance Ministers and CB Governors in agreeing to extend the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) for a period of 6 months till June 2021. 

She stated that international policy coordination on sovereign debt restructuring should primarily be guided by the objective of helping low-income countries to overcome the fiscal stress caused by COVID19 pandemic. 

Education Ministers of G 20 nations have resolved to work together and share best practices in the area of education so that member countries can ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, even in times of crises.  

A virtual meeting of G20 Education Ministers was hosted on Saturday (5th September) by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to discuss and share experiences of member countries in the three identified areas of Education Continuity in Times of Crises, Early Childhood Education and Internationalization in Education. The meeting was the culmination of ongoing discussions on these themes, conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an official release issued today said. 

The G20 member nations include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union (EU). 

Representing India, Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal said that these themes are also priority areas that the Government of India has been pursuing. India’s commitment for these themes is reflected in the new National Education Policy 2020 that seeks to bring in transformational changes in the education landscape of the country. He said India will continue the efforts it has taken to reform and transform its education system and mitigate the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He also said India is committed to collaborating with G 20 member countries in the area of education. 

The Education Ministers adopted a communique at the end of the meeting expressing the resolve to encourage internationalization in education by sharing of best practices in education and the adaptation of such practices at the local, national, and international levels, as appropriate. 

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman today participated in the 3rd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting held under the Saudi Arabian Presidency through video conferencing. She discussed about the global economic outlook amid evolving COVID-19 pandemic crisis along with other G20 Finance Track priorities for the year 2020.