Mukherjee an important player within G-20

From Lalit K Jha
Washington (PTI) - Indian Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee is an important player in the G-20 grouping of the
top 20 economies of the world, the US said on Wednesday ahead
of meetings between finance ministers of these countries here
on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank's annual meetings.
Mukherjee, who arrived in Washington late on Wednesday
night after a successful day-long trip to New York, is slated
to meet US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday at
the India-US CEO Forum meetings.
"He (Geithner) looks forward very much to seeing him
again in Washington. He saw him a few months ago. They had a
very robust dialogue. They've got a very good, close working
relationship," a senior Treasury official said.
"And of course, Finance Minister Mukherjee is a very
important player within the G-20 as well," the Treasury
official said on condition of anonymity, recognising the
crucial role being played by Mukherjee in international forums
like the G-20, where the US is increasingly looking at India's
support to address key global challenges.
On Wednesday, Mukherjee is slated to address two press
conferences at the IMF.
After addressing the India-US CEO Forum meeting at the
Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, the Finance
Minister would head to the IMF headquarters a few blocks away
to hold crucial meetings with his counterparts from BRICS
(Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations.
"Our expectations would be that as BRICS countries, we
will take stock of the current global environment and look at
the consequences of the two-speed recovery that we are
experiencing at the moment," said South African Finance
Minister Pravin Gordhan.
"Secondly, I am still of the view that we do require a
coordinated and coherent G-20 response to the post-crisis
recovery period. Gordhan said.
However, "That response would have to be premised on the
understanding that each country on the G-20 table would have
its own national imperatives that it would have to respond,
but at the same time would have to find the space to ensure
that the global coordination and a globally agreed set of
responses can be formulated sooner than later," he added.
Later in the afternoon, Gordhan would hand over the
presidency of G-24 countries to Mukherjee.
This would mark India's taking over presidency of the
G-24 after a gap of almost three decades.