Sitharaman Meets Mohammed Aljadaan to Take Ahead G 20 Agenda and Discuss Global Debt Distress

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Saudi Arabian counterpart, Mohammed Aljadaan met to discuss the global debt crisis and other issues.

Written by: Arjita Gupta

Edited by: Krutarth Ghosalkar

Last Updated: April 12, 2023

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Mohammed Aljadaan, her Saudi Arabian counterpart met to talk about the strengthening of multilateral development banks and global debt distress. The meeting was on behalf of India’s initiative in the G-20 Presidency. Aljadaan confirmed the meeting and the discussion for the G20 agenda in a tweet. The meeting was in addition to the annual Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The finance ministry tweeted that the two leaders also conversed about the Expert Group and World Bank Evolution Roadmap on Strengthening the Multilateral Development Banks. This is also constituted of G20 India Presidency. The discussions were based on global inflation issues along with growth prospects of low-income and developing countries, implementation of a Common Framework, the immediate need to manage the global debt crisis, spillover effects, and steps to stabilize the same.

Currently, Nirmala Sitharaman is in the US and is going to attend the spring meeting of the IMF and World Bank, as well as be a part of the G20 meetings. Previously, the finance minister said that there are contention points in pursuing the green agenda globally. She also said that $100 million was dedicated to climate action by developed nations for developing countries but has not been released as such and India will complete its COP21 commitment in Paris. And this will ensue from its own fund mostly.

Sitharaman also noted her concern about the mechanism of the carbon border adjustment, which the non-EU producers have to pay against their emissions when accessing the European market.