Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley participates in the Sixth Annual Ministerial Meeting of India- US Economic and Financial Partnership (EFP) in Washington D.C.; Emphasized that Financial Action Task Force (FATF) must ensure effective implementation of legislation in various countries relating to terrorist financing and take concrete action against countries sponsoring terrorism and hosting terrorist infrastructure;

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

15-April-2016 12:07 IST

Shri Jaitley also participates in G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, BRICS Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting and BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) Board of Governors’ Meeting.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley participated in the Sixth Annual Ministerial Meeting of India- US Economic and Financial Partnership (EFP) in Washington D.C. yesterday.  The meeting took stock of the concerted efforts undertaken by both sides to deepen mutual understanding and to improve cooperation across a wide range of bilateral and multilateral issues.

The two sides noted the significant progress made in resolving bilateral tax disputes between the United States and India. Progress has also been made in sharing of financial information between the two countries under the Inter-Governmental Agreement, pursuant to Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).  The Finance Minister underscored that Financial Action Task Force (FATF) must ensure effective implementation of legislation in various countries relating to terrorist financing and take concrete action against countries sponsoring terrorism and hosting terrorist infrastructure. The FATF must also address offshore tax evasion and avoidance including through tax havens.

The US offered support for India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to increase financing options for India’s infrastructure growth and expressed interest in further discussions in areas such as municipal finance.

The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley also participated in G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting, BRICS Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting and BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) Board of Governors meeting.

In his interventions, inter alia, the Finance Minister highlighted that even as India has consistently recorded the highest growth figures among large economies in the world for the last three quarters, global growth continues to remain sluggish and has witnessed recurring downward revisions. Weak demand, tighter financial markets, softening trade and volatile capital flows are key headwinds to robust global recovery. Further, the efficacy of monetary policy instruments has reached its limits and that its pass through has not been seamless. Global and regional financial safety net and oversight need to be augmented, including through new financing mechanisms. He emphasized the need for globally co-ordinated policy actions to address the global economic turbulence.

The Finance Minister, chaired the BRICS FMs and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting and discussed issues of common concern of member countries, viz., global economy, structural reforms, voice reform of IMF and World Bank and other new and ongoing initiatives. The Finance Minister expressed satisfaction that two key initiatives of BRICS, viz., Contingent Reserve Arrangement and New Development Bank (NDB) have become fully operational. Deliberations were held on efficacy of establishment of New Development Bank Institute and BRICS rating agency. It was decided that a technical working group would examine the issues in detail and present their findings to the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in their next meeting.

The Finance Minister complimented Mr K.V. Kamath, President NDB, and his team for the quick pace with which the Bank has commenced its activity, a sentiment which was, thereafter, echoed by other members of the Board of Governors of NDB. The Board of Governors of NDB noted that the Bank has commenced operations through approval of the maiden projects on April 13, 2016. The NDB has approved four green renewable energy projects from India, China, Brazil and South Africa entailing Bank financing of USD 811 million. The project from India entails provisioning of multi tranche loan of USD 250 million to Canara Bank for onlending to Renewable Energy Projects. The project will result in generation of 500 MW of renewal energy and savings of about 800,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley also held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Lou Jiwei, Finance Minister of China and discussed areas of mutual collaboration and commonality of their positions in various multilateral fora.

The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley is currently on official tour to Washington D.C. to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Board of Governors meeting of New Development Bank and other associated meetings. He is accompanied by Dr. Raghuram Rajan, Governor RBI, Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Dr.Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) and other officers.

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DSM