BENGALURU, Feb 22 (Portal) – India on Wednesday reiterated its stance on the war in Ukraine and said it was time for dialogue and diplomacy as Group of 20 (G20) finance officials began a meeting near the southern city of Bengaluru .
“Today’s era is not for war. Democracy, dialogue and diplomacy are the way forward,” Anurag Thakur, India’s information minister, said at a news conference after welcoming delegates to the meeting, which ends on Saturday. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G20 countries will attend the meeting on Friday.
The meeting at the Nandi Hills summer retreat is the first major event of India’s G20 presidency and the war in Ukraine is likely to feature prominently during the negotiations. Friday marks the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
India has maintained a neutral stance on the war, not blamed Russia for the invasion, sought a diplomatic solution and increased its purchases of Russian oil over the past year.
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For decades, Russia has been India’s largest supplier of military equipment and the fourth-largest market for the South Asian country’s pharmaceutical products.
“Many nations are very interested in talking about the war between Russia and Ukraine,” said a deputy central bank governor from one of the participating countries on condition of anonymity.
“Russia itself wants to discuss the economic impact of sanctions.”
The Russian embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
G20 finance ministers and central bank governors are also expected to discuss unblocking debt restructuring for troubled economies hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Portal reported last week that India has prepared a proposal for the G20 countries to help debtor sovereigns by asking lenders, including the world’s largest sovereign creditor China, to make a big haircut on loans.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and German Treasury Secretary Christian Lindner will attend the meetings and are expected to put pressure on China to “quickly deliver” debt relief for low- and middle-income countries.
During the event, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to hold a meeting with the World Bank, India, China, Saudi Arabia, the United States and other Group of Seven (G7) nations to try to reach agreement on common standards and Achieving principles and definitions for restructuring distressed sovereign debt.
Cryptocurrency rules, reforming multilateral development banks, international taxation and ensuring adequate financing to fight climate change are also on the agenda of the meetings, which will also be attended by heads of the IMF, World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
However, neither the Russian finance minister nor the head of the central bank are expected to attend the meeting and will be represented by their deputies.
Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh and Shivangi Acharya, writing by Tanvi Mehta and Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Krishna N. Das and Raju Gopalakrishnan
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