Washington DC–India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley arrived on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., after a successful visit to Canada.
In Washington, the Finance Minister held a meeting with the World Bank Group President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, where he acknowledged the long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship between the World Bank Group and India since the inception of the World Bank and also appreciated the support of the World Bank to the many significant achievements of India in its development process, especially the World Bank Support in the six priority areas identified by the Prime Minster for Multilateral Development Banks’ assistance.
While discussing the policy issues related to the World Bank Group, he indicated India’s strong support for the capital increase and its readiness to take larger share than the dynamic formula would require. He also emphasized that the World Bank Group should work together with the member countries to explore innovative financing solutions.
The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Rt. Hon. Ms Patricia Scotland also met the Finance Minister. Later in the evening Hon’ble Finance Minister interacted with several US State Department officials during the reception hosted in his honour.
Shaktikanta Das, Secretary Economic Affairs, held a bilateral meeting with United States Treasury Under-Secretary, Mr. Nathan Sheets. After exchanging notes on the state of their respective economies, both sides took stock of the work done on technical cooperation on NIIF, public debt management and municipal bonds and agreed to expedite progress on these issues. During the course of their interaction, Secretary (EA) also highlighted the sustained rapid growth of Indian economy and its ambitious reform agenda including the landmark Goods and Services Tax, passage of the recent national bankruptcy law and liberalization of foreign direct investment.
The Finance Minister is currently on official tour to Washington to attend the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and other associated meetings. He is accompanied by Dr. Urijit Patel, Governor RBI, Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Secretary Economic Affairs, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor and other officials.
