Hamburg [Germany], July 8 : Climate change, trade and investment, migration and excess capacity in steel were the major points of negotiations at the Hamburg G-20 Summit, as told by Indian officials.
A. Panagariya, vice-chairman of NITI Aayog, told a press briefing, "There was a lot of time spent in negotiations in four particular areas - climate change, trade and investment, migration and building excess capacity in steel." He said that at the platform, India opposed all forms of protectionism in trade and voiced support for openness in regional trade agreements.
Talking about climate change agreements, Panagariya said, "The U.S. position on climate change is different than the other member countries as they plan to continue to work on clean technologies including clean fossil fuels technologies and assist the developing countries for whom energy security is a high property." On migration, there was been a shift in the emphasis as there was sharp distinction drawn into what may be migration due to forced displacement and that in general, according to Panagariya.
Talking about negotiations on the financial front, DEA Secretary Tapan Ray said the participating countries and institutions generally agreed that there has been revival of global growth which currently stood at 3.5 percent, but the key issue was to have it in a sustainable manner.
"So, the concern was how to use monetary fiscal and structural policies to achieve the goal of a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth," he said.
Ray said that it was agreed that monetary policy will continue to support economic activity and price stability consistent with central mandates.
Fiscal policy would be used flexibly to be growth friendly while ensuring share of debt and GDP is on a sustainable path.
There was also stress on growth and employment. On the issue of malicious use of information and communication technology which endangers financial stability, the countries welcomed the progress of Financial Stability Board's work and look forward to a stock taking report in October 2017.
On international tax cooperation and financial transparency, the key line was to continue to work for globally fair and modern tax, Ray added.
"The issue of base erosion and profit shifting was also discussed in detail and we look forward to the first report of automatic exchange of financial account information under the common reporting standard.
We call upon all relevant jurisdictions to begin exchange of information latest by September 2018," he said.
There were discussions on tax evasion, corruption, terror financing, and money laundering as well. It was agreed upon to advance effective implementation in international standards on transparency and beneficial ownership from legal persons and legal arrangements including availability of information in domestic and cross-border context.
Source: ANI
